Fables and Future Fantasy
by PhillyCh3zSt3ak
Summary: Contained within is a repository of random one-shots and pilot chapters on a myriad of different standalone stories and crossovers of different series. Rated M for safety, true ratings and notable content included with each individual chapter. Formerly "Phil's Random Pilots and One-Shots."
1. Foreword

**Hello everyone and welcome to a new series of stories that are either standalone or pilots. Now, what does this mean? Well unfortunately sometimes I won't have time to actually write a full series due to time constraints in real life or I have a plotbunny that won't leave me alone, BUT I have no personal knowledge of a(n) universe that it takes place in beyond an entry level amount of information. Case in point: DC comic characters, I might know some of their stories or tales but not all of them in depth. Meaning this is great for a one-off story or a pilot that enters my mind, but not for a saga or long-form story similar to the ones that I've made so far for this site. I'll be honest, making several separate stories that I will never update because it is a pilot/plotbunny that got into my head that is a one-off or a pilot I can't think of a legitimate name for. All that being said, there will be some rules for this specific repository of stories.**

 **Rule 1: Any story written and posted inside this repository CAN become its own story should I wish it to be so.**

 **Rule 2: If anyone who reads this wants to create a spin-off story or continuation based on the pilot/one-shot I've written must ask for permission in PM form from me and must state at least in the first posted chapter of the story that it is based off the pilot written by me, otherwise it's just plagiarism.**

 **Rule 3: I am in no way obliged to actually write a sequel/continuation of any story written in this repository regardless of how much it's liked by readers.**

 **Rule 4: No series is off limits and multi-crossovers are possible (3 or more series).**

 **Rule 5: Ratings will fluctuate everywhere from T-M so the base repository will be rated M for safety's sake and each addition will have a rating mentioned to which I think is appropriate.**

 **Rule 6: Suggestions are welcome for other plotbunnies, pilots, or one-shots. I have made a forum accessible through my profile where suggestions can be made and posted as well as replies to a large volume of reviews.**

 **Rule 7: Updates in this may be sporadic due to real life events and me working on other stories that I've already put out or might be working on.**

 **Rule 8 (Addendum, and the only rule for readers): Do not leave "reviews" telling me to update other stories that I have ongoing as they will be either deleted or completely ignored. It is quite rude to leave such a "review" expecting me to cater to you specifically, especially since I do this for fun and in my free time.**

 **Also, as a common courtesy please try not to leave anonymous reviews as I don't do review replies in this repository in newly posted chapters but in PMs to the person that submitted it and in mass on my forums when I get enough of them.**

 **Now that all of these rules have been established a disclaimer for you: I own nothing except my laptop and my copy of MS Word. Properties that any stories written and posted inside this repository belong to their respective owners. All of the events portrayed, while some might be based on real life events, are fictional and didn't happen.** **All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. I am doing this story of my own free time and is not for profit, I do not make a single cent off of anything I write on this site.**

 **Now that that's all taken care of, go ahead and click next and see the first story in this repository. And please, do enjoy.**


	2. A SW x TT pilot

**So this fic is truly an experiment for me. What do I mean? Well I hate to admit it, but I suck at writing fight scenes. So what's the remedy? Writing a fic based on material that I can look up online and use as a basis of sorts, and what better than a childhood favorite: Teen Titans. Why not go with the Justice League or even Young Justice? Well I don't know enough of either of these two's histories nor every event that happened, however I do know almost everything in Teen Titans as it is a closed off series when it showed on Cartoon Network years ago, well technically it was cancelled before the series could be fully closed, but it at least got a movie. This chapter specifically in the case of story and dialogue is directly taken from the episode "Go!" (episode 510 [season 5 episode 10]).**

 **This is also the first time that I have written a first person perspective fic on this site, so that's sort of a landmark.**

 **Rating: K+ or T**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my laptop and my copy of MS Word. _Star Wars_ used to belong to George Lucas but now belongs to Disney. _Teen Titans_ belongs to DC. Only original characters belong to me.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

 **[Suggested musical accompaniment]**

XxXxXxX

 _Jump City. A random bar._

I sat on a barstool at a walk-in bar that overlooked the main street. It was a unique bar in the way that it emulated a few of the bars down in New Orleans and the fact that it was open twenty-four hours a day. Yours truly is about five foot eleven inches tall, I got brown hair, blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin. I'm wearing combat boots, jeans, and a t-shirt covered by a black hoodie.

I waved over the bartender. "What can I get you?" the slightly older man asked.

"Whiskey on the rocks," I replied.

"I need to see your ID."

"You don't need to see any identification," I replied, my hand on the counter wiping from right to left subtly.

The bartender's eyes glazed over and repeated, "I don't need to see identification."

"You will go about your business," again I used the subtle movement of my hand on the counter.

"I will go about my business." The bartender then returned not a moment later with my drink and then left to tend to the other bar patrons.

I sipped at his drink slowly as I thought back on why I was here, on this backwater planet who was only in the early stages of space flight. Oh right, the Purge. Yep, my mother was a Jedi and managed to escape the initial Order 66 Purge and met my father, a smuggler, and managed to stay on the run for two years, during that time I was "made". I've been on this planet now for four years, surviving from day to day, stealing food from fast food joints using the Mind Trick.

Ever since I was ten my father taught me how to pilot his ship, a YT-2400 light freighter. When I was thirteen my mom took me to one of the hidden temples scattered throughout the Outer Rim that were kept off the books. Inside I passed one of the trials that were required in order to become a Jedi, to which I received a silver-cyan saber crystal only known as Mantle of the Force, a crystal thought long lost since the era of Revan. It took a whole month before I had completed the construction of my lightsaber.

My mother taught me as much as she could in the Force, but she was only a recently knighted Knight. However, she needed more information to teach me on the Force, so that meant a heist. We went to Dantooine, the site of the old Jedi Conclave during the Revan era. However, we didn't know that we tripped an Imperial probe droid that had been sitting on the site for years, just waiting for Jedi to trip it. She and my father had managed to steal a Jedi Holocron before they were confronted by one of the Inquisitors. My father had managed to get the holocron onto the ship while my mom was keeping the Inquisitor busy. After getting the engines running my dad went back out to assist her, but he caught one of his reflected blaster bolts to the chest and unfortunately died. Mom fought the Inquisitor, but knew that there was no way that she could actually defeat him, and that I had no practical skill to defeat an opponent like him, so she told me to run.

That was the worst day of my life, after punching in random coordinates into the navicomputer and the freighter jumped into hyperspace I felt a tremor in the Force that felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest. I was depressed for weeks, even after landing on this planet I'm on now. I didn't eat nor sleep for close to a week before I just passed out from exhaustion in my quarters. After I got through my bout of depression I immersed myself in the holocron that my parents sacrificed themselves for.

I was brought out of my musings by someone screaming about a purse snatcher. I reached out with the Force and with a single small hand gesture I tripped up the thief, causing him to faceplant on the sidewalk, allowing the local authorities to arrest the thief. I chuckled lightly in amusement. I always stayed under the radar if possible, the less questions asked about me the better. It was then I felt a disturbance in the Force. Which was immediately followed by a what seemed to be a meteor slamming down into the center of an intersection. But it felt… living? The smoke around the crater was green, which was abnormal in and of itself, unless the smoke was the fumes of some chemical being dispersed.

When it cleared I saw a redheaded girl in a skintight suit with what looked like metal covering everything that would have been exposed if the girl had worn something akin to sports or workout attire. She then spoke something that sounded like Huttese, but not. It was definitely not Basic nor the predominant English of this planet. It was shouted angrily, but then again so was German at times. Probing her emotions through the Force, she felt desperate, seeking help, worried? I looked closer and saw that she had bindings covering her hands all the way up to the crease of her elbows. What did she do that would require such measures?

She started slamming the ground as to get them off, the civilians started to panic and run away. I pulled up my hood, hiding my face and felt for the one tool that had never left my side since Dantooine, and walked out on the street. The girl's mental train of thought was on the right track as she started to slam the bindings against the reinforced beam holding up the awning of the local pizza place. I was going to intervene when a flying piece of metal in the shape of a bird collided into her faceplate helmet, which caused her to stumble.

She, and I, turned to see a boy, around I want to see sixteen, standing on top of a car attempting to look menacing. He shouted out, "Who are you?" before the girl then attacked him similarly to a two handed smash… which just destroyed a good chunk of the pavement. Oh joy. The boy managed to dodge the strike and the several follow-up strike that the girl attempted to land on him. He then threw a low leveled explosive at her before somersaulting over her. Oh boy, you just pissed her off. To which my suspicions were confirmed as her eyes glowed green, but hey at least it's better than sulfuric Sith yellow. She then kicked a car towards the teen, to which he did dodge, that landed in a building at the end of the other street.

"Hmm, stronger than she looks," the boy muttered, too distracted by the car that barely missed his head to notice her slamming her restraints into him. I grimaced as that had to hurt. He managed to recover though and dodge another strike that would have made him a pancake on the pavement. He then struck her with a collapsible staff, which brought me to another question: was she lighter in this gravity? Surely that boy couldn't be benching enough to pull off the distance needed to send the girl careening into a car which was at least a few dozen meters away. The boy's staff then collapsed in a heap of metal dust. This had gone on long enough and I was, again, going to intervene but a green… goat? Wait… what? And he just transformed into a green spandex wearing boy. This planet never ceases to confuse me.

The green boy then saluted the other caped boy and said, "Ex-Doom patrol member Beast Boy, sir! How can I help?" The boy was then knocked out of his very… eccentric introduction. "Wowzers, you're Robin!" So that was the name of cape-kid.

"Well, you can start by not calling me 'sir'," Robin replied.

"Well let me just say that it's an honor to-."

"Beast Boy, was it?" Robin cut off the green kid.

"Yes, sir?" Robin then just pointed to his left, to which the redhead was throwing a bus. Geez, how much does this girl lift? I'm still going with my gravity theory, by the way. To which the bus was stopped dead by a very bulky guy. Ok, I'm cool with staying under the radar, but this is getting too coincidental for my tastes. The guy then flips the bus onto his side with a grunt. Again, what is it with people on this rock?

"Yo! Who's here messin' up my neighborhood?" he shouted, the tone of his voice suggests another teenage kid.

"She started it," Beast Boy pointed to redhead. She then slammed her restraints on the ground once more, freeing her hands at least. A two-fold restraint system? Why would you need-? She raised her hands, which began to glow before she started throwing something akin to blaster bolts at the teens. Oh so that's why? I wonder what that metal is made of, it could make wonderful armor. Luckily for the teens though she was only aiming a few feet in front of them. She threw many of these bolts erratically, the boys dodging as they tried to get behind cover. She finally collapsed on her knees in exhaustion, her breathing heavy.

"Girl's going to wreck the whole city," 'muscles' stated.

"I won't let her, I won't lose this fight," Robin replied before running out towards her from behind his bus; which happened to be the same time that I started to approach redhead calmly. A black veil in the shape of a raven rose to cut off the three boys, allowing me to approach closer without interruption.

"Maybe fighting isn't the answer," a girl said from behind the boys after appearing in what looked like shadows.

"What's he doing?" Beast Boy asked, referring to me.

Redhead saw my approach and tried to throw another hand blast at me, to which I reached out with the Force and thrust out my hand, holding her in place and freezing the bolt in mid-air. The other four teens were too gob smacked to say anything in reply. I continued to walk calmly towards her, pulling out my lightsaber and igniting it. With a snap-hiss the silver-cyan blade revealed itself.

To say she was terrified was an understatement. I knelt down in front of her, keeping the working end of my blade away from her. "I know you didn't mean to hurt these people and put them in danger," I said to her. I knew that while she couldn't understand the words exactly, she knew my intentions. I stood up and flicked my lightsaber, severing the center brace keeping the restraints together. I then deactivated my lightsaber, tucking it back inside my hoodie. I then let her go from my improvised Force Grip, but left the bolt still in its stasis-like field. She then ripped the rest of the restraints off with her bare hands. "Good luck, and may the Force be with you," I said before attempting to walk away. However, before I could she grabbed me and pulled me in for a kiss. While it was nothing, you know, sexual, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it a bit.

She did pull away a moment later before saying, "If you do not wish to be destroyed, leave me alone." She then flew away. Nope, not kidding. Legitimately flew away.

"I'm Best Boy," the green boy greeted, breaking the tension.

"You guys might want to take a step to the right," I said. It was then the four remembered the hand blast, to which they moved aside. I then released the grip I had on it in the Force while deflecting it into the ground.

"Well, whoever she is, that girl knows how to make a first impression," 'muscles' said.

"I think we made a pretty good impression," Beast Boy said with a smirk. "Crazy space girl's gone, the city's safe, mission accomplished. Right, sir?"

"Seriously, stop calling me that," Robin replied, annoyed at being a superior again.

"Roger." The green kid then saluted again.

"Looks like we're done here." Robin then started to walk away. "I appreciate the help."

"You're going to go track down the alien?" the only girl asked.

"I have to find out if she's a threat."

"More like find out if she'll give him a kiss too," 'muscles' stated.

Beast Boy went after Robin. "Hey, sir- I mean Robin? Do you maybe-?"

"Sorry, I just went solo. I'm not really looking to join a team," Robin replied, cutting him off.

"Need a sidekick?" Best Boy asked, rubbing the back of his head. The others started to walk off in different directions. As for me? Well, I think my little outburst using the Force may have attracted a little too much attention. It was then Beast Boy-; do you know what? I'm just going to call him 'BB', it makes it easier. Anyway, it was then BB turned around, "Wanna get a pizza?"

I started walking towards the alley where I stashed my Swoop under an active camouflage tarp. BB then floated over to 'blue' and she only replied, "I shouldn't." Then she too walked away.

BB then hurried over to 'muscles', "I guess it's just you and me, right?"

I had just ducked in the alley and put the tarp away. I started up the repulsor engines on the swoop and boosted off towards my ship at extremely fast speeds. I whipped past most on the streets with only a buzzing noise or something that sounded like a bird of prey to an extent. I tapped my earpiece that I managed to jerry rig with one of the Bluetooth headsets of this world and a spare comm I had. "R2, warm up the engines, we may have to book it," I said to my droid, R2-S9. I received a set of bleeps from the droid. "What do you mean there's a large object coming towards the city?" Another set of bleeps. "Star Destroyer sized? Is it giving off an Imperial signature?" R2 replied with a negative beep. Ok, that was good. At least it wasn't the Imps. "Make sure the guns are hot and torpedoes are loaded in case we need them."

I stopped my bike and turned around to see a spike slam into the ground onto the island just off the coast of the city around the size of a small skyscraper. It then started to broadcast to the city using a hologram. "People of Earth, we come to your planet hunting an escaped prisoner," lizard-guy said. Ok either they're looking for me, or they're looking for the girl. "A very dangerous prisoner." While Jedi are dangerous, I think he's talking about the girl now. "Do not interfere and we'll leave your city with only minimal damage. But if you intend to assist her," yep, talking about the girl, "your destruction will be absolute." The communication then ended.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," I said to no one. It was then the spike opened and showed hundreds of warriors. "How come I feel as though I'm going to regret this?" I reached out with the Force, finding the one life form that was not of this planet. I turned my swoop around and boosted towards where I felt her signature. Cars and scenery whipped past me at over three hundred miles per hour, my Force enhanced senses keeping me from becoming a splattered mess on the pavement. Explosions erupted around the city as the reptiles searched for their prisoner.

I stopped outside one of the many video stores scattered around the city, the biggest clue? The glowing hole that looks like someone used a lightsaber to make an impromptu entrance. I engaged the biometric lock on the throttle and stepped off. I went back into one of the saddle bags and pulled out dad's old spare DL-44 blaster pistol he used to keep in his personal weapon vault on the ship. I checked the power pack before slamming it back into place, the catch tends to stick every so often, and activated the power flow. I put the bantha leather holster on my right thigh and placed the blaster inside it.

"Hey, cool bike!" I turned around to see BB's eyes… sparkling? "How's it float like that?"

"Classified," I replied, using a small Mind Trick to misdirect his attention.

"Who are you, and what are you doing with that gun?" Robin asked, obviously feeling threatened.

"It's none of your concern and it's not a slugthrower."

"You're not going to use that on her, are you?" the only girl of the group asked.

"It's not for you, it's not for the civvies hunkering down, and it's not for her. Occam's Razor, who remains?" I asked rhetorically.

"The other aliens," 'blue' answered.

"Bingo," I answered. "Now I believe Red owes us an explanation."

"Why would you want to harm the aliens doing their job?" BB asked.

"It's a last resort, just like any weapon. Now are we going to find out what's going on or are we going to discuss morality?" I ask. I roll my eyes at the lack of a response and take point and walk inside, my right hand hovering within reach, Force reach and normal, of the pistol. We all walk inside to hear what sounds like someone going to town on the movie store's snack bar, eating everything edible in sight. Either she had one HELL of an appetite or her so-called jailors had been starving her, personally, I hope that it is the former.

"Uhh… those taste better without the wrapper," BB said, snapping the others out of their stupor, as well as Red from her feast of junk food; which obviously pissed her off as she looked quite mad, her eyes glowing green right before charging up her fists again.

She growled but Robin put his hands up. "It's alright, we're friends, remember?" Robin asked.

'Friends?' I gave the teen superhero a pointed look, he's got a weird way of making friends. "Friends?!" Red asked. More power to you, sister. "Why did you free me?"

"Because it was the right thing to do," I said, cutting off what Robin was about to reply with. "In your eyes, I do not see the eyes of a murderer or killer like the lizard-guys claim you to be by insinuation, but an angry and scared girl trying to get away from something."

"And we were trying to be nice," Robin added unnecessarily.

"Nice?" Red asked angrily. "We do not have this word on my planet." You'd be surprised how many words are lost in translation, sweetheart. "The closest thing we have is rutha, weak." Oh great, a militaristic type culture.

"Well around here 'nice' means 'nice'," 'Muscles' replied. I rolled my eyes, not because his statement wasn't true, but because you don't describe a word using the same word to define it, that was something that mom drilled into me while learning Aurebesh. "And if you want us to keep being nice, you'd better tell us why the lizard king took you, prisoner." Lizard king, not bad.

Her eyes stopped glowing. Ok, at least we're going in the right direction. "Not prisoner, I am," she held her hands together, searching for the right word, "prize. The Gordanians deliver me to the Citadel, for me to live out my days as servant."

"And the Citadel are?" 'Blue' asked.

"Not nice."

"Then you're not going with them, not if I have anything to say about it," Robin stated firmly.

"Umm, don't you-," BB started.

It was then I felt the warning tingle in the back of my head, the Force was telling me that danger was about to-. "Everyone, get down!" I shouted. They looked at me confused as I dropped flat to the floor, already drawing my blaster. It was not a millisecond later that the wall behind Red exploded inward. The smoke cleared showing at least a platoon's worth of lizards all bearing those blaster-staves. "I knew I had a bad feeling about this," I muttered as I took aim at the lead guy, switching the fire selector from stun to kill.

"Seize her!" what I assumed the platoon sergeant commanded.

I quickly fired into two of the approaching lizardmen's wings, the plasma bolts cutting through them, leaving glowing edged holes and the lizardmen crashing into the ground. Robin gave me a pointed look as if I had just committed murder. "What? It was self-defense!" I said as I Force Pushed a group into the building across the street. He only gave me a glare that said 'We'll be talking about this later.'

'Muscles' double fist slammed several lizards. BB transformed into a rhino and ran head-on into a group, knocking a few of them out of commission; note to self: do not let him see a gundark or vaapad. Red punched a few right through the wall while scattering others from the group. Robin used his metal staff, wait where'd he get another one? Anyway, he used his staff to bash several of the lizards, sending a few flying as well. What the hell is this kid eating? 'Blue' used what seems like magic, as I really don't have time to think about it too hard right now, to send many more flying and away from us as a group.

I fired my blaster several more times, primarily aiming at the laser emitters of their staves. "What I wouldn't give for my E-11 right now!" I commented. I holstered my pistol and drew my lightsaber as five lizards tried to charge me. I slammed my hand into the ground, channeling the Force into a type of repulsory barrier, tossing four of the five aside, but only caused the fifth to stumble. I then ignited my lightsaber, its silver-cyan glow filling the mostly dark video store. The lizard tried to attack me using his staff as a club, however I just used my blade to cut right through it. As the two halves fell away, and confusion found its way onto the lizard's face, I kicked it in the side of the head, reinforcing it with the Force, sending it through the wall.

The wall they came through exploded once more, Red was taking on three more of the lizards. She managed to take one down with one of her hand blasts, and punched out the second, but the third came from her blind spot and slammed her into the pavement, creating a huge crater. Robin did manage to act quickly though, and threw one of the lizards he was fighting into the one that would have blasted Red right in the face. She only smirked in thanks. 'Muscles' though was having his own tough time and took several blasts to his person. When the smoke cleared it revealed he was a cyborg, or at least this planet's version of one. He managed to punch right through one of the lizard's staffs, rendering it useless. He then proceeded to throw the owner into a group of his friends. More gathered to go after this cyborg, but luckily BB flew over as a Pterodactyl, grabbed the cyborg's shoulders, and flew him over the charging lizards, the blue girl using her magic to use a lamppost as a golf club to send more lizards flying.

The lizards, seeing as though they needed reinforcements, flew off, some others in cowardice. I deactivated my lightsaber and made my way over to the group of teens. "I believe your expression is, thanks," Red said.

"Aww man, my suit," the cyborg complained.

"So?" BB asked. "You look way cooler without it."

"Yeah, like I'm going to take fashion advice from the guy in the goofy mask." Burn.

"Goofy? My mask is cool, isn't it?" BB asked sadly. "Raven?" he asked the girl. Oh, so that's what 'Blue's' name is. Both of them just shook their heads 'no'. "Mystery guy?"

"No comment," I reply.

"What about my secret identity?" he asked while pulling at his mask.

"What secret identity? You're green," Raven retorted. BB verbally flubbed trying to figure out a retort before pulling off his mask.

"This isn't over," Robin commented. "Now that we've interfered-."

"Trogar will strike harder," Red added. "It is only a matter of-."

"FOOLS! The Earth-scum were warned. Your insolence will be punished. Your city shall be destroyed," Lizard king said dramatically. The hologram disappeared as the ship the lizards arrived in hovered over the city charging a large canon. Oh, joy.

"Great," Raven dryly commented.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, sister," I add to the commentary.

"So after trashing a perfectly good pizza place and a video store we've managed to anger a gigantic space gecko enough to vaporize the entire town?" BB asked.

"Go, team," the cyborg dryly replied.

"All the fault is yours! I commanded you to leave me alone but you insisted on the being nice!" Red angrily yelled at Robin primarily, no idea why since I was the one that severed her shackles.

"My fault?!" Robin shouted back. "You blasted me, you kissed him," he pointed to me, "but you never stopped to mention that they've got a gigantic particle weapon?"

I let them argue while I reestablished my connection to my R2 unit. "R2?" I asked through my headset. I got a warble in return. "Did you load the proton torpedoes?" Another warble, this time affirmative. "Good, I need you to-."

"Quiet!" Raven shouted. After getting the group's attention she shyly said, "Hi."

"Whoever's fault it is doesn't matter anymore," Robin stated, to which I agreed. "We need to figure out how to stop that."

Silence reigned in the group, so I spoke up, much to me probably regretting it later. "From where I see it, we have two options. The first being infiltrating the ship, either overloading their reactor core or rigging it with enough explosives to take out a city block. The second requires a little more... finesse."

"And that would be?" Raven trailed.

"Making them chase us into an asteroid field and have pilot error be the cause of their demise."

"And how would we do that?" the cyborg asked."In case you haven't noticed we don't have-."

It was then R2 decided to arrive with the _Dawn_ , hovering a dozen meters above the buildings around us. "You certainly don't have one, but I do."

"What is that?" the cyborg asked.

"The _Forward Unto Dawn_ , a Corellian YT-2400 light freighter, smuggler's edition," I say with pride. "So are we sneaking our way in or outflying it? Because either way I'm going to need to rearm."

"I say we draw it away from the city," Raven said in support.

"While I don't like it, the lives of the citizens are more important," Robin reluctantly agreed.

"But isn't going through an asteroid field, like, dangerous?" BB fearfully asked.

"The odds of successful navigation is around three thousand seven hundred-twenty to one." They guffawed. "That's why I'm counting on those odds to be in our favor." I then turned to Red, "Can they track you?"

"What do you mean?" she asked in return.

"They didn't find us in that video store by chance. There are several million people in and around the city, and they definitely didn't check the sewers. That means they've been tracking you, how would they do it?"

She thought for a moment. "They must have found me when used my powers," she concluded.

"Alright, we'll use that to draw them away." R2 then landed a few feet behind me, ramp extended. "All aboard," I said before walking up the ramp.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah!" BB said, crossing his arms. "You want us to come on a suicide mission?"

I approached BB, getting well inside his comfort zone. "Those were soldiers, grunts but still soldiers. They've reported people fitting our description helping little miss red here. The longer we sit here worrying about our asses, the more in danger these people's asses are put on the line. Can you live with their deaths on your conscience?" When I received no response I continued, "I thought so. Doing the right thing isn't the easiest thing to do, even when it means your life is on the line." With that, I went up the ramp and into my ship.

Red was the next one up the ramp. The remaining three looked at each other before running up the ramp. I ran through the interior through the cargo bay, through the lounge, and into the workshop where my trusty astromech waited. "R2, cockpit now," I commanded as I ran past him, Red fast on my tail. R2 only whistled before giving me a raspberry. "Well there's no need for that. Superweapon going to destroy the city, that's why I'm rushing." I put my HUD eye-piece on and grabbed the control yoke and started running through an abridged pre-space launch flight check. I raised the ramp and once it sealed I gunned it. "I hope you guys are buckled down!" I shouted into the intercom system.

While the Dawn's artificial gravity and G-force compensators were active, as we were still in the atmosphere and therefore Earth's gravity, I heard a few someones crashing into one of the bulkheads. "OW!" BB cried out.

"Oops," I offhandedly commented, more concerned about death ray 9000 over there. R2, using his magnetic tracks, rolled up to his place. "R2, take control of the guns, fire on that ship on my mark." He trilled an affirmative as his data probe inserted into the data port. I leveled off as I strafed the alien ship, "FIRE!" The dorsal and ventral mounted quad-linked canon roared to life spraying the alien ship with plasma fire. "Cease fire and prep hyperspace coordinates for the edge of the asteroid belt," I commanded as I pulled into what would normally cause aircraft to go into a stall. R2 gave me a sarcastic set of bleeps. "No I'm not kidding, set course and prep the hyperdrive."

The alien ship was in hot pursuit. Firing whatever weapons it had to disable us, luckily for me the deflector shields so lovingly upgraded by my old man were holding and draining oh so slowly. As soon as we cleared Earth's gravity well I turned to Red, "Start to use your powers but don't be throwing any of those bolts in here." She nodded and her eyes and fists started to glow. "Here goes nothing," I mutter throwing the activation lever. Stars elongated and turned into the familiar blue tunneled hyperspace corridor. I counted down the seconds needed to just get to the belt. I deactivated the hyperspace generator, only to immediately bank to avoid an asteroid.

"WOAH!" the cyborg cried out. "You know what you're doing?" R2 rotated his dome behind him and sent a few raspberries his way. "I am NOT being useless. Oh my God, I just understood what that robot just said," he said in sudden realization.

R2 rotated his dome towards me and I just shrugged. "I guess some languages are universal." I then dodged another asteroid. It was then I felt the Force warning me of what was to come. "Get ready, here they come." The alien ship reemerged into real space using whatever FTL drive they had and immediately started opening fire on us. R2 whistled a question. "No, don't activate the ray shields, the deflectors need to be double front. Oh, and Red, you can power down."

"Wait, what about the rear?" the cyborg asked. "Don't we need our asses protected?"

I ignored him as I passed between two asteroids of significant size that closed behind us. "Are you suicidal?" Robin asked.

"No, they are for following us," I reply. "R2, prep the Void-7 charges." I kept delving deeper into the asteroid belt, dodging both sizable rocks of death and laser blasts with ease. Once we got deep enough where the aliens were more concerned about rocks than us, firing at asteroids instead, it was time to spring the trap. "R2, get ready… drop the charge." There was the sound of something dislodging itself from the ship, a second later all sound was gone before a loud thrum was heard by everyone. I adjusted my position to avoid the blue ring of death and watched as it cut through asteroids with ease, causing more asteroids to spawn from their destruction. "R2, enemy status?"

Immediately a readout displayed on my HUD. "That armor is so much weaker than durasteel. It's like freaking paper in comparison." I put the Dawn into an Immelmann roll and headed directly towards the alien ship. I armed the proton torpedoes and waited for a lock. As I piloted closer I aimed particularly at the bridge, as it was dead in the water. Finally, the target lock chime ringed through the cockpit and I pulled the trigger, firing the conical high explosive missile. The torpedo sped around other meteors with precision accuracy before slamming into the bridge, filling the side of the cockpit's viewscreen with a vivid explosion as it engulfed the alien ship, throwing molten metal fragments into the asteroids around it. "And that's that."

I flew us out of the asteroid field with ease, using the Force to guide my actions. As soon as the Dawn made it to the point where there were micrometeoroids instead of killer rocks that the shields wouldn't be able to handle I let R2 take over. "R2, plot a course back to the city; call me back if I'm needed," say before ushering everyone out of the cockpit and back into the lounge.

"Wait, you're letting the glorified advanced trash can drive?" the cyborg asked.

"Don't let him hear you say that," I say as I sit down in my comfy chair in front of the dijark table, the rest of the teens on the couch, "he'll either shock you violently or space you, probably the former." They gave me an incredulous look. "What? I trust him. He was my mom's starfighter astromech for years during the Clone Wars."

"The Clone Wars?" Raven asked.

I sighed before muttering, "I really need a drink." I brought up a hologram of the galaxy with boundaries of the Deep Core, Core, Colonies, Expansion Region, Mid Rim, Outer Rim, and Unknown Regions all listed in English. "Except for what's here listed as the Unknown Regions, about twenty-three years ago war broke out between the Galactic Republic, a government that's been around for thousands of years, and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Now this wasn't the first time that star systems have removed themselves from the Republic as, once upon a time, Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa were also part of the Republic but with the formation of the Hutt Cartel they removed themselves. Systems like Mandalore on the other hand like to remain neutral as their mercenary culture allows them to be hired on by any government for any job.

"The CIS wanted to recede because they were tired of the corruption inside the Republic, and to an extent, they were justified. However, what neither side knew is that there was a single man behind the scenes manipulating it all, a Sith named Darth Sidious. He had a clone army built that had a very specific order embedded in their flash training: Contingency Order 66."

"Order 66?" Robin asked.

"The immediate execution of ALL Jedi," I replied grimly. "Before the Clone Wars there were over ten thousand of us, now we are but a handful." I saw their solemn expressions. "Clone commanders that worked with their Jedi generals and commanders for almost three years betrayed them with the command of one order from the now Emperor. The Clone Wars ended with the dissolution of the Republic and the emplacement of the Empire. For over ten years my mother, a Jedi, and my father, a smuggler, kept us always moving. We were never in the same place for more than a few months at most. Finally through, our luck ran out. One of the Empire's Inquisitors caught up to us during a search of a Jedi artifact on Dantooine where millennia ago there was a Jedi Enclave during the conflict with the Republic and the Sith Empire.

"They found something and tipped off the Empire. My mother fought an Inquisitor, and when my father tried to help the Inquisitor deflected his blaster bolt into his chest, killing him. My mother told me to flee and held the Inquisitor off until I got the Dawn into hyperspace. After that, she died at his hands."

"How do you know? I mean you were already away from the planet, right?" BB asked.

"I know she is. There is a very intimate bond formed with a Jedi master and apprentice, I was her apprentice as she was my master. You can tell subtle things through the Force with those who are bonded, especially when they die. It's like feeling your heart is being ripped right out of your chest. I know she's dead, and it's all that bastard's fault," I growled. I caught myself drawing on the Force a moment later, levitating several non-bolted down items. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down and heard several thuds as some galley items landed on the deck. "Sorry, reliving some of that tends to being up some unwanted feelings. Anyway I plotted a random course and for four years now I've been living out of my ship in the woods outside of Jump City, only venturing out to get supplies."

"You keep talking about this Force thing, what is it?" Raven asked.

"From the way that my mom described it to me, which is the same way that Master Yoda explained it to her apprentice group years ago, is an energy field that surrounds all life, it flows through us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together; those that can harness the power of the Force are called Force sensitives. They are later separated into Jedi, those who harness the Force through lighter emotions, and Sith, those who use darker emotions." I shook off the past and explanations that I had. "Anyway, the reason I wanted R2 to take over was I needed to talk to you," I said to Red. "You have two options in front of you. On one hand you can return to Earth and do whatever there, but remember that the lizards may have reported your last known position. The other is that after I drop these guys off I drop you off somewhere in the galaxy, like Mandalore."

"Why Mandalore?" Red asked.

"Like I stated before they are a planetary society of mercenaries. I do have a few contacts that passed onto me with my parents' deaths that would be willing to take you in for a time to get you acclimated to the galaxy. The guys after you won't know where to look as you won't even be near where your last known position was. I can see that this might take some time to think about. I'll be in my cabin since it'll take at least an hour to get back."

"Why not use that hyperdrive of yours?" Robin asked.

"I don't want to tax my .49 Class hyperdrive with too many microjumps at a time," I replied dismissively as I left the lounge and entered my cabin, the cabin that used to be my parents'. To be honest, I needed the time to meditate. I entered my cabin and closed the door. I then unclipped my lightsaber and placed it in the center of the room. I sat on the floor in a cross-legged way before closing my eyes, opening myself to the Force. My lightsaber started levitating as it disassembled itself, exposing the crystal.

It was then I started seeing flashes. First was a man in mask, half of it was solid black with the other copper colored with an Egyptian styled eye. The second was of a black haired girl, like Red, being chased by squid-like droids. Then a Mirialan female with what looked like a city on Mandalore dressed in pilot's or smuggler's clothing; she had her hair cut in a way the emulated a pixie haircut that was layered and dyed with red and purple along with her natural raven locks, she has purple lipstick, she has the typical markings of her species but in violet instead of black, had one set of triangles on both sides of her cheeks and one set running vertically from her hairline to her eyebrows. On what looked like Ryloth there was a red skinned Twi'lek female wearing very revealing slave garb. The image then shifted to Red in a different outfit being stranded in a more futuristic Jump City. There was another where she was fleeing through the stars. I then saw Red and the others on an alien planet with others that looked like Red in species. Then the image of the split-masked man appeared with red markings all over him, the most prominent being a stylized S. The next one terrified me, a red, four-eyed behemoth that gave off an aura of pure evil. Finally, there was a room filled with frozen teens and what looked like a brain in a jar.

I opened my eyes to see Raven standing in the doorway, slightly shocked at the now reassembled lightsaber. "You needed something?" I calmly ask.

"Umm, we've landed," she replied.

I felt that the Dawn's repulsors were active and not the sublight engines. "So we have. Go ahead, I'll be right out." I changed out of my hoodie and into the bantha hide leather jacket my father left behind. I walked through my ship and down the boarding ramp to see the rest of the teens talking. They were talking about various things, like how the cyborg decided to actually be called Cyborg.

 **[Tribute, Halo 3 Original Soundtrack, Martin O'Donnell. Start at 0:36]**

"That's quite a view," Raven commented.

"Someone should build a house out here," Cyborg added.

"Yeah, if you like the sunshine and the beach," BB nudged Raven in her side.

She smiled and let out a small giggle, "You know, you're kinda funny."

"You think I'm funny?" BB asked with stars in his eyes. "Woohoo! I know some jokes." That only made Raven sweat-drop.

"Where's Red?" I asked, joining the group at looking at the city, for me though I was just recalling my swoop.

"She wanted to borrow one of the rooms to change," Robin replied. "Looks like you've changed your wardrobe too."

"Indeed."

I heard footsteps coming from behind us, would you look at that it was Red. She was wearing a purple ensemble that looked similar to what she wore before. It has a metallic collar with a black jewel of some kind embedded in it, purple leather-like thigh-high boots, a miniskirt with a metal belt made of the same type of metal, and a top that stopped a few inches above her navel. "Please, I look nice?"

Girl, I could think of some other words that are much more flattering. "I still don't know your name," Robin said.

She approached closer. "In your language, it would be Star Fire."

"Welcome to Earth, Starfire."

"I thank you all for your bravery and help. And I wish to ask permission to remain here, where the people are most strange, but also most kind." Sister, you've seen nothing yet.

"So I'll take that as you don't want a free ride to Mandalore, fair enough," I said, breaking up the conversation.

She turned to me and said, "While your offer is most kind, it is unnecessary. I feel most welcome here."

I shrugged before turning to taxi my swoop back into the main cargo bay. "You aren't going to stay?" Robin asked.

"Not that I don't want to, but the Force wills me elsewhere," I reply standing towards the middle of the ramp. "Maybe I'll come around again, after all the future is an ever flowing river, no one knows what it truly holds."

"Fair enough. We'll keep a room open."

The others gave their farewells. But the one that Starfire gave certainly stood out, "K'oyacyi! (1)"

To which I replied, "Aliit ori'shya tal'din. (2)" I walked up the ramp and just as it started to rise, I addressed the group, "Oh, and be careful of the guy with the two-toned mask."

Before any of them could ask what I meant, because honestly I didn't know either, the Dawn took off and sped towards space. Once we were out of the gravity well R2 turned to me and asked in droid for coordinates. I thought back to my vision and replied, "Mandalore." R2 asked a question. "I don't know exactly, but that's where the Force is guiding me." A moment later the stars began to stretch in front of the Dawn until we were back inside hyperspace once more, on to another adventure.

XxXxXxX

 _Back on Earth..._

The ship only known to the teen superheroes blasted off into the great black ocean known as space, it was then something dawned on Beast Boy, "We never asked him his name!"

"He will be known to us as 'burc'ya,' friend," Starfire said with no thought at all as she watched the city in the distance.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And that's the end of the pilot chapter. Before I take off I got some end notes for you.**

 **1\. This is a Mandalorian saying that roughly translates to "be safe."**

 **2\. This is a Mandalorian proverb that translates to "family is more than bloodline."**


	3. A SW x HP (Ahsoka x Harry Mk1) pilot

**Hello everyone and welcome to another PhillyCh3zSt3ak plotbunny! Well, don't throw things, my faithful followers who follow me, because this is being released at the same time as an update for another one or two fics. So what is this? Well obviously it's a Star Wars/HP crossover, however, this is actually something inspired by a guest reviewer that went by the name "James." Well I mention in Age of Reclamation (SHAMELESS STORY PLUG!) in the actual second chapter that a Harry/Ahsoka pairing wouldn't make sense since she'd be in her forties by the time the story starts (though knowing her species going by Shaak Ti she would age gracefully though) while Harry is twenty-five. So then the idea kept going through my head before I finally got this down to paper- I mean word processor.**

 **Now please note that this is the original pilot, a revised, more thought out version is being written in the works.**

 **So then that previous idea got combined with another idea, a split timeline story. What do I mean? Much of Harry and Ahsoka's past is going to be told inside of "Flashbacks" which are told like stories to Ezra and the rest of the Ghost crew, primarily their training in the Temple, what life was like before the Empire (as that's all they've known, the younger members that is), and of course the Clone Wars (all hail to Netflix for source material!).**

 **Now carrying the fact that Harry is now an unknown variable inside the Star Wars universe there's going to be SOME changes to canon, however, others still happen. For example, the Empire will still rise and Padme and Anakin still marry (I know it's canon but Lucas couldn't write a love story with believable dialogue to save his life, those scenes were cringe worthy), and so on and so forth. That being said there will be moments that Ahsoka might be OOC (out of character for those who don't know what that means) as well as Harry. So before I get to the story I've got some triggers below:**

 **OOC!Jedi!NBWL!Harry – Ok so the reason he'll be OOC is that he's picked up by the Order when he's three years old, so, therefore, he didn't suffer under the Dursleys, or at least not for very long, before getting picked up. Harry will also not be the Boy-Who-Lived, that is reserved for another, and it's not Neville.**

 **Occasional-OOC!Ahsoka – As I stated in the opening, there will be moments where she will be OOC as we only have a small view into her childhood prior to the temple. So based on what I've seen in the Clone Wars series I see her as one of those friendly, personable people.**

 **Wild-Space/Unknown-Regions!Earth – I like this, so therefore it's going to happen. It's also sort of necessary in order for other events to happen, specifically during the Clone Wars as well as the pre-Rebels timeframe.**

 **EU-Clone-Wars!Compatible – There will be certain characters that will appear that are a part of the Expanded Universe Clone Wars stories, you will actually see one of the names in this chapter specifically. This is to help expand the amount of people that Harry interacts with as a Jedi outside of OC's.**

 **Alive!Potters – This is the reason that Harry is not the Boy-Who-Lived. He has a brother who's three years younger than he is that becomes the BWL.**

 **Meddling!Dumbledore – Again I love the meddling Dumbles trope, it's fun to write with. Again, he's not bad, just very misguided in how he SHOULD actually be dealing with matters.**

 **Ahsoka/Harry!Pairing – This is final. It will happen. It has been set in stone. No, there will not be a harem of lovely ladies for him to hook up with though at times it may seem like it. It isn't.**

 **Rating – This will be a Teen (T) to Mature (M) rated fic, I'm not quite sure what exactly I want it to be at right now. I do reserve the right to heighten or lower the rating if I need to. Based on the content that's in the chapter, though, perhaps Older Teen would be appropriate.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word.** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney, regrettably** _ **. Harry Potter**_ **belongs to the Mistress of Magic herself, JK Roweling, as well as Scholastic Books and the Warner Brothers (for book and movie distribution rights). I own all original characters unless otherwise specified. All character names used are fictional, any relation to real people is coincidental.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

" _Spells_."

XxXxXxX

 _Ghost, en route to the Corellian system._

A certain Corellian ship flew inside hyperspace towards its destination, one that even the twi'lek captain of the vessel did not know. Something that made Hera quite frustrated with their new companion.

"So let me get this straight," Hera started, "we're heading to Centerpoint Station to meet a contact neither of us have heard of?"

"Not one you know of anyway," Ahsoka replied.

"So how do you know this guy?" Kanan asked.

"We go back a ways," she replied mysteriously.

"Sheesh, way to be secretive," Sabine commented.

The ship reemerged from hyperspace to see a pretty empty starfield, in front of them were two planets and Centerpoint Station. "Ok, there's no one here," Hera commented.

Ahsoka handed her a data storage device. "Transmit this on the preset frequency," she requested. Immediately the internal speakers played what sounded like a digital rendition of a six toned whistle. A second passed before a ship decloaked off their bow as the light shimmered around it revealing an avian looking ship just slightly larger than the _Ghost_ after adding in the wingspan. "Olly Olly Oxen Free, all are out, all are free (1)," she muttered. The regular crew members of the _Ghost_ looked to each other for a moment, wondering exactly what it meant.

"We've been cleared to dock," Kanan stated. The crew members felt the ship shudder as it clamped on and made an airtight seal with the other ship.

The group, sans Chopper, went to the airlock. Ahsoka took a deep breath and pressed the command to open both airlock doors. What the group was treated to was the sight of a spaceborne bachelor's apartment.

 **{Shinedown, Cut the Cord}**

"Geez, this place is a pigsty," Sabine commented as she saw various electronic and weapon parts scattered about the area. "And what in the Force is that noise?" she asked about the 'music' in question blaring from the cockpit.

"I kinda like it," Zeb replied (2).

The crew of the Ghost slowly approached the cockpit which was above the common area that could only be accessed by a ladder. Ezra, much to the others being unable to grab him, went up the ladder first. What he saw was a thirty-something year old human male sitting back with his feet on the control panel with his arms crossed wearing a billed hat with what looked like a fishing hook attached to it covering his face that looked to be whiskered, a black bantha hide leather jacket which hid a blaster pistol shoulder holster, a plain t-shirt, a pair of black cargo pants, and a pair of black combat boots. He seemed to be sleeping so he reached forward to press the red square on the media player but instead had his arm grabbed swiftly and the sound of a blaster cocking. He looked down at the man to see the barrel of a blaster sticking out from underneath the man's arm.

"Kid, you've got three seconds to back the hell away from my tunes," the man said in a slightly accented, yet gruff voice. Ezra backed up once the man lets go of his wrist. "Geez, the Alliance is recruiting young," he said as he sat up, placing the hat properly on his head revealing his gemstone green eyes. "Where's the rest of your team?" Ezra pointed down towards the common area. The man reached back and turned his 'tunes' off and casually leaped down a level after holstering his blaster.

The man looked at the group but didn't notice the togruta hiding slightly. "So you're the group they sent?" he asked. "What do they need now?"

The crew of the Ghost were stunned. "Wait, we thought you had information for the Rebels?" Kanan asked.

"And who told you that big ol' bowl of malarkey? Only three people know that tune, one of them is me, the second is one who died the day the Empire rose, and the third vanished off the face of the-." It was then he felt a familiar presence. "Ahsoka, it's been a while."

"You're out of practice. You used to be able to clearly feel my presence a system away," the togruta answered as she walked out of the shadows.

"You… look good," he said stepping within arm's reach of each other. It was then she slapped him, hard. The sound of flesh on flesh echoed through the ship and the man fell to the deck. "Ok, I probably deserved that," he said while rubbing his cheek.

"Probably? You DID deserve it," she harrumphed. "You didn't even bother to look for me."

"Well excuse me! It's not like I can post on the holonet and say 'hot young human male Jedi seeking cute female togruta Jedi' in the Missed Connections (3)!" he exclaimed as he got up.

The two stared at each other angrily. The crew of the _Ghost_ expected some sort of fight was about to happen, but what happened next shocked them. Instead of fists thrown the two flung themselves at the other embracing and kissing each other passionately. Kanan was about to cover Ezra's eyes when the apparent couple started to grope each other, but it was Hera who cleared her throat.

"Ahsoka, is there something you'd like to tell us?" Hera asked expectantly as the two separated begrudgingly.

Both had a slight dusting of red on their cheeks. "Well, this is captain of the _Nightingale_ and former Jedi Knight-."

"Hadrian Potter at your service," the man interrupted.

"Wait… you're a Jedi?" Ezra asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Harry retorted, eying the kid's lightsaber.

"How did you survive this long?" Sabine asked.

"Well, it's all part of a multifaceted story that could take a while."

XxXxXxX

 _Earth, Sol. Little Winging, Surrey. Night._ _Many years ago._

This wasn't the first time that the Force had drawn her somewhere, but into uncharted space? Well, it was certainly a new one, that's for sure; especially when that place is an underdeveloped world that had just mastered orbital satellites, spacecraft, and space stations. There is a protocol for planets such as these and as per Republic laws any visitors were not allowed to share any technology, as the planet's society would have to develop it themselves, and they would need to keep a low profile as to not expose themselves as aliens to the planet's populace. This was the reason why the two brown cloaked beings walking down the street landed in a nearby forest. These two wandered the streets looking for something, or someone rather (4).

"Now where, Master?" the shorter of the two asked, clearly a female from the pitch of her voice; a teenager, if anyone was on the streets to listen.

"The Force led you here, my apprentice, not me. Reach out and let the Force guide you to where we need to go," the older one replied, a male from his vocal pitch.

The apprentice looked down both sides of the street, all of the housing units in this particular neighborhood were completely identical, as if everyone was a clone of each other; and if the apprentice was to be honest with herself, it creeped her out. And so she did what her Master suggested, she closed her eyes and reached out and let the will of the Force guide her footsteps. Less than ten minutes later she felt her Master's hand on her shoulder, when she opened her eyes she saw that her Master had prevented her from walking into a door.

"You have done well, my apprentice," he said proudly, patting her on the back. "Now let us see why you were led here, shall we?" He then knocked on the door politely. They then waited patiently but nothing happened. The master then knocked a little harder, yet still politely.

"WAIT FOR A GODDAMN MINUTE FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!" a male voice shouted from inside the domicile. There were heavy footfalls as someone approached the door. When it opened the master-apprentice duo were treated to the appearance of what could only be described as the spawn of what would happen if a Hutt and a toydarian successfully mated, out was safe to say that underneath their hoods both master and apprentice cringed at the thought. When he saw them it looked like he turned the shade of a red vegetable used commonly in condiments. "WHAT ARE YOU FREAKS DOING HERE?"

"Peace, sir. We are merely travelers seeking directions," the master stated.

"I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU FREAKS! NOW LEAVE!"

The master tapped into the Force and waved his hand subtly, "You will let us come inside for a moment."

His eyes drooped and glazed over repeating, "I will let you come inside for a moment." He then stood aside, letting them pass as though he was a butler.

"You will sit on the sofa quietly," the master intoned as he closed the door.

"I will sit on the sofa quietly." The extremely obese man then sat down on this sofa, straining the springs and frame, without saying a word, staring blankly at the television.

"Damn right you will," the apprentice muttered.

"Tell me, my apprentice, where is the Force guiding you?" the master asked.

She closed her eyes once more and walked towards a cupboard below the stairs that was only big enough to hold cleaning supplies. "Here," she pointed at the door. "The Force guides me to whatever's on the other side of this door."

"Then open it."

The apprentice reached out, her hand covered in fingerless gloves that revealed her light blue skin, and grabbed the primitive door knob. She twisted it after undoing many locks on the outside of the door, when she opened the door, what she saw disgusted her and her master alike. There in a space just large enough for a youngling to stand in was a young human boy that looked to be of three years old that was wearing clothing much too large for him that covered in old blood stains. The boy, however, was covered in bruises, some looked fresh while others were older. The boy was barely conscious, an eye barely tracking the two cloaked figures.

The master could feel his apprentice's anger rolling off of her in waves. He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Calm yourself, young one. Do not let your anger lead you to the Dark Side."

She took several deep breaths, allowing her rage to subside yet her anger remained, righteous anger. "But master, surely we must do something," she replied.

"What does the Force tell you to do?"

She focused once more, "It tells me that we should take him with us back to Coruscant, to the Temple."

"And the others in this house?"

She paused. "Leave them, they will have their comeuppance soon."

"I agree. Carry him, I will cover us." The apprentice nodded. She knelt down next to the child and picked him up gently in her arms, his head against her chest. She could sense without trying that the child was strong in the Force, just as strong as Kenobi in potential if she were to take a guess. Her master then walked over to the hutt-spawn. He waved once more channeling the Force, "You never saw us."

"I never saw you," he replied in the Mind Trick trance.

The apprentice followed the master out of the house with the boy. They walked quickly out of the home, closing the door quietly behind them with the Force. They walked quickly down the town's streets, the apprentice using her cloak to cover the boy as the night was quite brisk. As they entered the forest they could hear a weak crack echoing from the housing development, but something about it echoed in the Force wrongly that made them quicken their pace towards their ship. A few minutes of Force-enhanced running later, they arrived at their YT-1930 freighter licensed to the Jedi Order. The master pressed a few buttons on his gauntlet remote and the boarding ramp lowered on the left side while looking at the centrally mounted cockpit.

It was then they both felt a tremor in the Force. "Aayla, get the youngling on the ship and start the engines," the master stated.

"Are you sure, Master Voss?" the apprentice, Aayla, replied.

"Yes, now hurry." The girl quickly made her way up the boarding ramp with the boy. She carefully made her way into the quarters reserved normally for the captain and carefully placed the boy on the bed. She lowered her hood, allowing her lekku to be free from the cloak's hood, and covered the boy with the blanket, tucking him securely in place so he wouldn't fall easily upon takeoff. She then proceeded to move into the cockpit and started the initial takeoff sequence. As she viewed her master, she wondered why her master waited for something. Her question was answered when an elderly human male literally appeared in front of him with a much larger explosion sound wearing garish purple robes.

"Who are you, and what are you doing taking young Harry?" he asked, brandishing a stick of wood.

The Jedi Master readied himself for battle, his lightsaber just within reach. "My name is unimportant. My goal is removing the boy from his abusers," Voss replied.

"Abusers?" the old man asked in a false tone that bled false innocence. "Those people were his aunt and uncle and he was left in their care."

"I can tell from your voice that you do not regret leaving the boy with them. Let us leave now in peace and you can leave with your life," Voss said seriously.

"Is that a threat?"

Voss shook his head. "No, it is a warning."

The old man pointed his stick towards Voss like a simpleton would a blaster. "Then I'm truly sorry that it has come to this. _Stupefy_." At once a white jet of light not dissimilar of a blaster bolt left the man's stick.

Voss ignited his lightsaber with its signature snap-hiss and used the green blade of contained plasma to bat the bolt away into some trees. The old man was stunned as this was unexpected. "Is that all?" Voss asked with a raised eyebrow, egging the man on.

This seemed to enrage the old man. " _Baubillious_." At once, lightning, not dissimilar to fabled Sith Lightning but yellow in color, leaped from the stick, to which Voss once more caught with the lightsaber. " _Bombarda_." Voss leaped from his initial position just as a blast that was comparable with a low-level thermal detonator exploded sending dust and debris around.

Inside the cockpit, Aayla finished the pre-flight checklist and started to ignite the primary ion engines. The rumbled to life as everything behind the ship was glowing with a blue light. The ship raised itself just high enough for Master Voss to reach using a Force assisted jump. Seeing that the freighter was airborne Voss threw a strong Force Push towards the old man, throwing him into a tree, to which Voss could hear the man's skull connect with the wood regardless of the ion engine's rumbling. He leaped up with assistance from the Force onto the landing ramp and stood in it, lightsaber still ignited, as it closed.

As the ramp closed and sealed Voss deactivated his blade and yelled, "Punch it, Aayla!" The ship lurched forward as it sped away, the old man still trying to tag a few spells on the ship whose deflector shields defused. He walked into the cockpit as they breached the atmosphere. "Good job, my apprentice. Set course for Coruscant," he said with pride as he watched over his apprentice's hands flying over the controls. Once the freighter leaped into hyperspace Voss took over, "Attend to the boy. Treat whatever injuries you can with the medkit on board, the rest the healers at the temple will have to treat."

"Yes, master," she replied as she left the cockpit.

Meanwhile, on the ground, one Albus Dumbledore was not a happy man. The abused brother of the Boy-Who-Lived was taken away by extraterrestrial beings in a space ship that had only been fanaticized about on television shows and film. One thing was for certain, once Lily and James learned that their eldest son, whom they left at the Dursleys at Dumbledore's slightly forceful Legilimens enhanced request, was kidnapped they were going to be out for blood. That was, unless, he managed to cover it up. He had eight years before the Hogwarts letter for Harry's class went out to find him, after that though anything could happen. After all the Greater Good could not be accomplished if all the pieces were not in play.

XxXxXxX

 _The Jedi Temple, Coruscant. Two days later._

"Master Voss, ready to give your report, you are?" Jedi Grand Master Yoda, gesturing to the master-apprentice duo.

"I am, master," Voss replied. "Approximately five days ago my apprentice Aayla received a vision in the Force while meditating."

"Padawan Secura, what did you see in your vision?" Master Mundi asked.

The apprentice took a step forward. "I saw a youngling curled into a ball in a dark place, however, I could not see his face," Aayla replied.

"Then how know you have the right child, did you?" Yoda asked.

"The Force guided me to the right child, he was under a staircase in his relative's home. I treated what injuries I could with the medkit on board."

"He is strong in this Force," Voss added.

The council members looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "Test him when he has recovered, we will," Yoda decreed. Aayla started to leave, but Voss remained. "Master Voss, more to say have you?"

"While my apprentice was taking care of the boy and preparing the freighter for launch, I encountered one of the locals. He used the Force in a unique way: through a stick of all things as some sort of focus. Through incantations of a language I did not recognize he attacked me with a type of white light, yellow lightning, and an explosive; all of them originated from the stick. My theory is that this is a type of manipulation of the Force not dissimilar to the fabled Sith Sorcery of Revan's era or the Dathomiri witches Force manipulation."

"Do you believe the man you encountered was a Sith?" Master Windu asked, his index fingers steepled.

"While I can neither confirm or deny that it was a Sith, I did sense a powerful aura around the man during our fight."

"Hmm," Yoda hummed. "Whether this will require further action, meditate we will."

XxXxXxX

 _One year later. Youngling dormitories, Jedi Temple._

It had been one year since Harry had arrived on the city-planet Coruscant, and every day he was still amazed by the things that many of his other dorm mates took for granted. For example: sky cars, aka speeders, Earth did not have these at all; or the countless spaceships taking off and arriving every moment of the day on the capital planet where Earthlings only had rudimentary rockets. And then there were the 'aliens' (5). They were the most wondrous beings he had ever seen. First, there was the Jedi Council. There was Master Mundi who had a massive head, there was Master Ti who had these head things that he didn't know what they were as well as orange skin, then there was Master Yoda who was as short as he was but was also over nine hundred years old as well, and then there was his big-sister-like figure Aayla who was blue with these head-tail attachments in her head called lekku.

Harry was like any other child his age, hyper and his attention was everywhere. For the caretakers getting him to learn the history of the Jedi as well as learning how to read and write in Aurebesh was a chore. The caretakers had so much of an issue with this that they implored the Council for a tutor to keep him on track. And so that was how Aayla became Harry's tutor whenever she wasn't training with Master Voss or on a mission as she was the only being in the temple that he would legitimately listen to when it came to his studies.

Today was a special day in the youngling dormitories, as today they were to be randomly sorted into 'clans' that they would spend the rest of their time together at the temple before they were taken on as apprentices. Harry was both excited and worried as he did want to meet new people, but he was worried if the people he was going to be with were going to like him. Nervously the four-year-old walked up to the message board and searched for his name, he was sorted into the Clawmouse Clan along with three others in one section of the dorms for the clan (6).

He walked to his new dorm with his only two possessions, a datapad, and a comlink, and stood in front of the door. With his rudimentary Force training, he could sense the other three beings inside. Taking a deep, calming breath he pushed a button on the console beside the door and it opened to reveal three girls around his age.

The first of the three, a togruta with orange skin with white facial markings and striped blue and white lekku and montrals bounded up to him with an impossibly large smile and said, "Hi, I'm Ahsoka! What's your name?"

The girl was so close that he leaned back instinctively. "Umm, Harry," he replied nervously.

"Hi, Harry and welcome to the Clawmouse clan! Come over and meet everyone else," she said excitedly before grabbing his hand, dragging him over to the other two girls. "This is Barriss," she said, gesturing to the older mirilanian.

The green skinned girl replied with a shy, "Hello."

"And this is Etain," Ahsoka said, gesturing to the only other human in the room.

"Greetings," the girl said with a slight bow.

"I have a feeling we're going to be best friends!" Ahsoka said with a toothy grin.

XxXxXxX

 _Meanwhile with Yoda…_

"Master Yoda, if I may be so bold to ask," Master Windu asked while viewing the datapad with the room assignments for the sorted younglings, "why did you put three female younglings with one male?"

The old, yet wise Master chuckled as if remembering something funny told to him long ago. "Testing a theory, I am," he replied cryptically.

"A theory?" the much younger Master asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Told me something long ago, a friend once did. Wish to see if it is true, I do." As Yoda reminisced, Windu only hummed in thought attempting to figure out what the Grandmaster was attempting to test.

XxXxXxX

 _Present, Corellia._

"And that's how I met my very good friend Ahsoka," Harry concluded the portion of his tale. The rest of the _Ghost_ crew were either leaning on a support beam or sitting at the dining table in the common area.

"So let me get this straight," Ezra asked, "you were taken from your very primitive homeworld-."

"Yep."

"-Taken to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant-."

"Correct."

"-Where you met Ahsoka?"

"Uhhuh."

"So how did you and her, you know…?" he trailed.

"Hook up?" Harry bluntly replied. "It wasn't simple with all the Jedi ethics about no attachments and such. Contrary to popular teachings, some attachments were good."

"So where's your lightsaber?" Ezra asked.

Harry sighed. "Like your master Kanan knows, carrying around one is pretty much a death sentence these days." Another question then popped into his head. He turned to Ahsoka, "So why did you come all this way for little ol' me?"

"To catch up," Ahsoka replied. Harry raised an eyebrow. "And to ask you to join the Rebellion."

"You know I don't get involved anymore."

"But you have to!" Ezra pleaded. "The galaxy is in chaos!"

"Kid, the galaxy is _always_ in chaos," Harry dismissively replied. "Stars are anyways being born and dying in supernovas, some drunk is getting mugged or killed in a dank dark alley, a mother dies because of birthing complications, and an idiot dies flying into a piece of debris because he forgot to check the couplings on his deflector shield generator. Chaos exists everywhere, nothing we can do about it, well not the coupling one at least."

"But the Empire is evil!"

"I'm not arguing that they aren't evil," Harry replied standing up. "They're being run, for the most part, by asshat human supremacists who care more about money lining their pockets than the people they represent or rule over."

"But-!"

"You guys go back aboard the _Ghost_ ; I need to have a word with Harry. In private," Ahsoka said to the crew interrupting Ezra.

One by one the multi-background crew left through the airlock, Ezra shot Harry a dirty look. A moment later the airlock hissed shut and Harry turned to Ahsoka. She was giving him a less accusatory look, but one that expressed her distaste none-the-less. "What did you want me to say, huh? The Empire has millions of capital ships and fighters and more than enough 'patriotic' Imperial citizens ready to fight against the Rebel 'terrorists' with a few broadcasts on the Imperial Holonet," Harry ranted, oblivious to the fact Ahsoka was closing in. "I mean hit and run tactics work for a while like they did with the Vietcong against the Americans (7), but the Imps aren't Americans. They'll slaughter all in their way regardless of affiliation or public outcry. They won't give a flying fu-."

He was cut off by a togruta kissing him once more. After a moment they separated. "You talk too much," she said sweetly that reminded him of a time like this so long ago it felt like a lifetime ago. Ahsoka once more leaned in and kissed Harry once more. They slowly moved towards the only 'quarters' on the ship, that being a bed below the cockpit, leaving pieces of each other's clothing they took off each other as they went. It wasn't long before they were both naked as the day they were born and at the edge of the bed. They leaned back and engaged in the lovers' dance slowly, relishing in sensations they had not felt in a long time. Every emotion they felt, attraction, love, lust, and some frustration and loneliness, were all fed to each other through the Force. Time passed, they didn't know if it was minutes or hours as time had lost all meaning to them during their coupling; but finally they rested after their releases, holding on tightly to each other, savoring each other's warmth as she laid on top of him, their legs entangled.

"I've missed this," Harry said as he slowly caressed one of her lekku.

"The sex?" Ahsoka teased, loving how it felt once more.

"Well there's that," Harry teased back, earning him a playful slap on his arm. "But what I've really missed is just being with you again."

She looked up, her blue eyes meeting his emerald ones. "Then why not join us? We would be together all the time."

"I can't. The war, the Empire, they've taken so much from me, from both of us. Barriss during your farce of a trial and her death later at Felucia. Master Secura. Etain killed by a padawan on a bridge on Coruscant by accident. All the younglings we saw as brothers and sisters slaughtered at the Temple and around the galaxy."

"But you still have me. I'm still here."

"I know, but for the longest time, I thought I'd lost you too," he replied as he cupped her face and ran a thumb over her cheek fondly.

"Then come with me, you don't have to join the Rebellion, but come for my sake," she pleaded.

"And do what?"

She was silent for a moment. "Help me train the boy."

"The boy? Doesn't he already have a master?"

"Yes but he too never finished the Trials like I did before I quit. You were the only one of us to pass the Trials before the Purges. Kanan was still a padawan at the time. Ezra has potential like you did after you came to Coruscant."

"He reminds you of me, does he?" Harry teased.

"In a sense. He's compassionate, passionate about his goals, and loyal to his friends."

"Sounds familiar."

"So will you do it?" Ahsoka asked once more.

XxXxXxX

 _An hour later…_

Harry and Ahsoka walked into the common area of the _Ghost_ after a shower. One difference in Harry was that he wasn't wearing his jacket, yet still had his shoulder holsters on.

"What're you doing here?" Ezra asked with a slightly hostile tone.

"After an hour or so of intense... negotiations, Ahsoka and I have come to an agreement," Harry replied. "While I won't join the Rebels-." The younger members of the crew grumbled. "-because of personal reasons. I will assist the crew of the _Ghost_ , and the Rebels by proxy, by fighting against the Empire when the opportunity arises."

"I don't get it," Zeb replied scratching his head, obviously confused.

"In other words, he's a freelancer who just so happens to hate the Empire with a passion," Ahsoka replied.

"A mercenary?" Kanan asked.

"More like a highly paid volunteer," Harry retorted. "Don't get me wrong, I have no love for the Empire just like the rest of you, nor am I easily swayed by cash. Plus, I've already discussed payment for my services with Ahsoka and she agreed."

Hera sighed, "How much is this going to set the Alliance back?"

"Unless I have to drag my ships into it, you'd receive invoices to pass on for fuel and munitions replenishment, but otherwise, just for resources I use during missions."

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow, "Ships, as in more than one?"

"No?" he lied.

"Harry..." she trailed, giving him the stink eye.

"I, uh, might have stolenanimperialstardestroyer," he finished quickly.

Everyone in the room was silent in dumbfounded awe. Finally, Sabine spoke up. "Wait, YOU managed to steal an Imperial star destroyer?" she asked. "How?"

"Well... I didn't do it alone," he replied while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Statement: Of course you didn't, master," a synthesized voice from behind them stated. They turned around to see a black Separatist Commando Droid with two blaster pistols maglocked to its thighs. "Prideful boasting: It was most pleasurable dispatching those elite Stormtrooper meatbags and that pseudo-Sith."

Harry pinched his nose as Ahsoka's hand stayed towards her lightsaber. "HK, what are you doing here?"

"Disgusted statement: My olfactory sensors could no longer take the scent of copulation any longer so I decided to get some 'fresh air' as it were."

Both Harry and Ahsoka looked away from each other pretending that they didn't do anything, but the very light blush on their cheeks sold them out. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Observation: The body language you and the togruta display suggest you're lying. Addendum: The cheek discoloration you call a 'blush' does not assist your lie either."

"Harry, who is this?" Ahsoka asked.

"Ahsoka, crew of the _Ghost_ , this is HK-47," Harry replied.

"Hold on," Kanan interrupted, "I know my Republic and Jedi history's a little rusty, but wasn't HK-47 Revan's assassin droid?"

"Ok, I might have stolen the memory core from the original HK-47 in the Temple from the Revanchist Vault and copied it over to a newer module that fits in that commando droid."

"You broke into the Revanchist Vault? When?" Ahsoka asked in surprise.

"When I was sixteen, I think. I didn't transfer the data to the commando droid until I got it in the closing days of the War. A trooper EMPed it-."

"Don't you mean Ee-em-pee?" Sabine skeptically asked.

"No, I mean EMP (8). Anyway, a trooper EMPed it and during an attempted assassination and I… repurposed it."

"Since when did a Jedi need an assassin droid?" Zeb asked.

"I dunno, but he's saved me more times than I can count. In fact, the only reason I survived the initial purges was because of HK."

"Complement: You are a most competent master, it would've been a shame to lose such a competent master to such underhanded tactics," HK stated.

"I find that a bit ironic, coming from an assassin droid," Ahsoka dryly retorted.

"Statement: Assassination and betrayal are two different things. Assassination takes time and preparation, analyzation of your target's strengths and weaknesses, their patterns and habits, everything that makes them an individual. Betrayal is so simple and inelegant."

"Back to how you captured an Imperial Star Destroyer," Hera tried to get them on track.

"Addendum: It was a new _Imperial II_ -class destroyer."

"You stole a one hundred forty-five million credit destroyer!?"

"An understaffed cruiser with a skeleton crew with conscripted troopers, they weren't hard to convince. It was the Storm Commandos and the Inquisitor trying to track me on the other hand that were a pain in the ass," Harry replied.

"Storm Commandos?" Ahsoka asked.

"They're not part of the regular Imperial Navy (9). They're spec ops troopers. They make all the grunts you've faced, Vader's 501st and the Inquisitors aside, look like children using toy blasters. It was only because of HK and his, quite literal, killer programming that allowed me to get out of there alive with a new ship that I can't really use outside of a base to park in."

"You never answered my question about your lightsaber," Ezra asked, changing the subject.

Harry didn't say anything, but he twitched his fingers in what seemed to be a combination on his right hand. At once, lines appeared on his forearm to reveal that they were synthflesh covered plates of a prosthetic cybernetic limb (10). He reached inside in between the limb's structure and pulled out a lightsaber hilt that was about two hand lengths long. There was nothing particularly striking about it other than it was chrome plated, likely with another alloy, and had a leather grip on the hilt. Around the emitter plate, there was a slotted guard that had four protrusions that allowed the blade, once lit, to be seen. It was then he ignited it. Whereas Ezra's and Kanan's blades were cerulean and Ahsoka's were pure white, Harry's blade was a deep navy blue with a black core (11).

"I hope you're ready kid, because you're about to get a crash course in everything Jedi," Harry replied.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **So there we go, that's the pilot chapter of this Harry/Ahsoka fic. Before I get to other things, notes! (Because I like to make references and explain stuff)**

 **1\. This is actually a dual reference. First of all, "Olly Olly Oxen Free" is said after the seeker in Hide and Go Seek can't find the rest of the hiders. The second is the tune, it's the tune played in** _ **Halo 5: Guardians**_ **when Chief and pals are on the Forerunner world Genesis, I thought it was appropriate.**

 **2\. It was said in an interview that the crew of** _ **Star Wars: Rebels**_ **was like a family. Hera and Kanan the parents, Zeb the older brother, Sabine the middle child, and Ezra the baby of the family. I figure that the elder brother figure would like harder rock music, I know I do.**

 **3\. Craigslist, need I say more?**

 **4\. I'm seriously just making this up as I go along. I used both** _ **Star Trek**_ **'s and** _ **Mass Effect**_ **'s sort of regulations when encountering planets with tech under theirs.**

 **5\. It's all a matter of perspective, to native Coruscant residents HE'S the alien.**

 **6\. Again I have no clue how this all works since information about pre-apprenticeship is scarce other than there's clans that kids are sorted into at the temple. I sort of took an RWBY approach to this.** **Looking through each of the listed characters (Ahsoka, Barriss, and Etain) ONLY Ahsoka had an initiate clan listed, so, therefore, I'm taking a little creative freedom with this. This also makes Barriss' betrayal in the final season of the Clone Wars much more heartfelt and deviating for both Harry and Ahsoka.**

 **7\. I remember an analyst saying in some book that if there hadn't been a public outcry against the Vietnam War America would have won against North Vietnam.**

 **8\. It's a** _ **Red vs. Blue**_ **reference, and it's absolutely hilarious when it's said.**

 **9\. This is a plot point from the game** _ **Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike**_ **where they introduce a spec ops unit called the Storm Commandos, I thought it deserved a little love as it was one of my favorite games when I was younger.**

 **10\. I got the inspiration for this cybernetic limb from the game** _ **Deus Ex: Human Revolution**_ **. Great game, can't wait for the sequel** _ **Mankind Divided**_ **.**

 **11\. I thought that Harry's blade deserved a little uniqueness to set him apart from the rest of the Jedi.**

 **Tell me what you think and if I should continue this further. Constructive criticism will be listened/read, flames will be ignored and/or blocked. Until next time, everyone!**


	4. A HP x Incredibles pilot

**So guess what? Philly's got another idea! So I had an idea that was inspired by the video made by the SuperCarlinBrothers that threw a theory out there on how the Incredibles and the rest of the Supers got their powers. Trust me, it's an interesting watch and I recommend it since it does all make sense in a way. I mean it would explain why Dash was able to get away with putting a tack on his teacher's chair and the teacher not considering superpowers since there were no child Supers. It all comes down to the US government in this alternate reality giving a select group of people superpowers to fight crime as some experimental well... experiment. I won't go too much into it as I think it deserves a watch, see it here (** watch?v=Z3Hv7fxnCJg **). But anyway this is the idea I got from it as it was inspired by this theory.**

 **"But where does this idea for the story come into play?" I hear you ask. Well it stems from a series of events that I will start to explain in the first few paragraphs but I'll summarize it here: Harry becomes a plant in the school that Violet Parr attends as a pair of eyes to watch the Parr family and to keep their identities a secret. That's it. That's the whole idea. In retrospect not a bad set-up.**

 **One thing that I'm chalking up to creative liberty is placing the plot during the 90's as it's never fully established what decade the movie actually is set in. Reason? When looking at the art style of the pre-Relocation Act Metroville you see that it resembles 1950's to late 1960's architecture, those of us who have played Fallout 3 and 4 can confirm that as it does look similar. The other reason is the technology. First, you have tablets, computers, ROBOTS, and the cars. The first tablet didn't come out commercially until 2001 so it'd be safe to assume that with the funding that Syndrome has he'd have some of the first ones. There's a computer in Bob's insurance office cubicle, the computer itself looks like a Windows or IBM model used for business, those of us that grew up in the mid to late 90's might have had parents that did these kinds of jobs where computers were required. Robots? Well, that's self-explanatory. The cars as well that are shown in the traffic jam scene look to be from the late 80's to early 90's in model design; cars during that time were very boxy. So when you look at it, it does make sense in a way just from visual clues.**

 **Rating: T – There is a possible chance of upping the rating to M in the future should I continue this, but for the sake of this pilot specifically will be closer to a rating of K+ to T.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my laptop. _Harry Potter_ belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic Books, and the Warner Brothers. _The Incredibles_ belongs to Disney and Pixar. I am not making a single cent off of this.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thoughts.'

 **{Optional Music}**

XxXxXxX

 _Undisclosed location. Six months after the Omnidroid incident._

A young man, still in his mid-teens, sat in a chair handcuffed behind his back with a sack on his head. To say that he was scared was obvious, to say the least as his breathing was erratic as a panicked person's would be. He sat in the room for an unknown amount of time, but it felt like hours. Then, without warning the sack was removed quickly exposing the teen to the bright light in the room to which he squinted, trying to find out where he was.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," a man with a gravelly voice said as the handcuffs were released. "Sorry, I would have been here sooner but there ain't no rest for the wicked."

"Who are you? Why am I here? How did I get here?" the teen asked.

The man ignored the black haired, green eyed teen as he opened a manila folder. "Harrison James Potter, age fifteen. Born July 31, 1981, son of Jameson Charlus Potter and Lillian Rose Potter nee Evans, died July 30, 1996, by order of the Ministry of Magic for the murder of Cedric Diggory; or at least that's the official record. But we both know that didn't happen, you were just a convenient scapegoat."

"What do you want?"

"Why, you of course. As of early this morning in the Daily Prophet your execution was announced and now the young man known as Harry Potter no longer exists."

"Why am I here instead of Azkaban?"

"A few agents inside of MI-6 still owe us a few favors from a decade or two ago when we assisted a few of their agents; after all creating a homunculus with simulated emotions that you'd have and replacing it with you and getting out of the country undetected is not a small order."

"But who are you?"

"I am Agent Rick Dicker with the CIA."

Harry stiffened at what a spy agency would want with him. "Why would the CIA be interested in me?"

The man leaned forward and folded his hands on his desk. "Tell me, what do you know about the Supers?" he asked.

Harry remembered back to primary school where once a week they'd yeah about different topics. "They were a group of men and women with super powers that popped up around twenty-five to thirty years ago that fought crime as vigilantes then roughly twenty years ago they went into hiding with the creation of the Superhero Relocation Act," he recited.

"And do you recall the age of the youngest Super?"

"The youngest was a young woman who was seventeen, almost eighteen at the time they all started showing up."

"And why is that? Why aren't there any pint-sized child Supers or teens still in high school running about at that time?" the agent asked.

Harry was dumbfounded at the question. Accidental magic exposure was taken care of by the Ministry and their Obliviators, surely if there was a super powered child someone would have noticed and news of them would have spread like wildfire, especially with journalists. "I honestly have no idea, sir."

"That's because we created them, the Supers. We collected our best and brightest everywhere from different military branches, sister agencies, and our own agency and manipulated their DNA to allow them to develop super powers."

"Why?"

"The decision was twofold. The first was to eliminate crime and prevent as many disasters, both manmade and natural, as possible. The second was both a deterrent and contingency against both Soviet Russia and Communist China; if they decided to invade they'd have to fight through superhumans able to take on entire platoons of grunts and armored vehicles without breaking a sweat."

"You're using them as weapons!" Harry shouted angrily.

The agent held up his hand to stop Harry. "We are, but they all chose of their own free will to be so if called upon, we had those opt out because of that; so far we haven't had to activate any retired Supers to fill the role of a soldier. Luckily that agreement they signed will not pass on to their children."

"Their children?" Harry asked confusedly.

"Tell me, what happens when a wizard and witch have a baby together?"

"The child will also be a witch or wizard."

"Wouldn't it also be the same with Supers and their children?" the agent questioned.

"I suppose," Harry relented. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"We at the CIA have a job specifically suited for you."

"Why should I even consider it?" Harry asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"Because you have nothing. You've been burned. You have no cash as it's been repossessed by the British Ministry of Magic, you don't have parents and even then they didn't have credit or a job history to speak of. If you refuse this offer you'll most likely be living in the streets of you're lucky. Everyone you ever knew believes you're dead so you cannot rely on them unless you wish to die for real for using 'Dark Magic' believing that you returned from the dead. So, in the end, you don't really have a choice." (1)

"You're blackmailing me!?" Harry exclaimed.

"No," the agent calmly replied. "I am just giving you the reality of the situation. Technically you do have a choice, though not accepting our offer will lead to a negative outcome for you in the long term and us in the short term." Dicker sighed. "The thing is kid, you've received an opportunity that not many people get the chance to receive."

"The chance to have nothing?" Harry sarcastically replied.

"No, the chance for a second chance. The chance to do your life again the way YOU want to. We know what you went through for the last fifteen years; some of our more seasoned analysts were disturbed, to say the least in the discovery of your treatment. Further investigations initiated by MI-6 showed that your parents' will was suppressed by order of Albus Dumbledore, for what reason we do not know. What we do know is that you were being manipulated, controlled since you were a toddler; again for what purpose, we do not know."

"So what do you want?" Harry growled.

"It's a very simple job. Remember how I told you that Supers that end up together will now than likely have children with superhuman abilities?" Harry nodded. "There's a family of Supers in Metroville that we need to keep an eye on, not because we fear they might go rogue, but their civilian identities being exposed after a slip-up. We want you to prevent such a thing."

"And how would I do that?" Harry asked. "In case you didn't know, before I was 'executed' my magic was permanently sealed off to prevent me from escaping," he said as he held up an arm that had symbols of various old languages including Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Japanese, and Chinese characters, letters, and words etched into his wrist leaving scars in the rough shape of a bracelet that one might receive from a cult, marking him forever.

Dicker opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a glass canister roughly the size of a soda can that had two tubes running through it that swirled around it similarly to how a model of a double helix model looked and set it on his desk in front of Harry. "In case you've forgotten, we were the ones that created the Supers. This serum, if you choose to accept it, will give you a superhuman ability that might even transcend the abilities that you had as a mage. So the question becomes, will you accept it?"

Harry thought for a moment, considering what he was being offered. "What will I get?"

"We don't know," Dicker honestly answered. "Every Super was different and during the initial stages of the program there were pools on what powers everyone would get," he mused, remembering the old days. "So, Mr. Potter, will you accept?" he asked as he held out his hand for a handshake.

During this entire exchange, he had been considering his options. He didn't have magic so he couldn't 'magic' himself up a home or shelter, he couldn't transfigure pebbles or trash into coins to buy things for because of the lack of magic. He had no money as all of it was repossessed by the Ministry. All of his friends thought he was dead, and those that he exposed himself to as not being dead might kill him on the principle of being a Dark Wizard using Dark Magic. Dicker was right, he had no other options. "What payment or amenities would be provided if I said yes?" Harry asked.

"You would have a house in the same neighborhood as the family in question, you'd have a new name and cover story including a 'father' that will be traveling out of the country doing business deals, who will be one of our agents should a face to face meeting be needed. You will be paid a yearly salary, as all agents are, you'd have access to a discretionary fund, and a line straight to my office as this is my op," Dicker replied.

"I accept, on the condition that I keep my first name as Harry," Harry replied holding his hand out.

Dicker grabbed and shook it, sealing the deal. "I'm sure our records department will find a way around that."

XxXxXxX

 _Later..._

Pain, all he knew was pain. Not physical, but mental pain. Harry had a migraine headache of which he would find an appropriate analogy or idiom for if he could think clearly for one measly minute! Oh, he had gotten a super power alright, telepathy. He could hear every thought from everyone in a thousand yard radius in all directions. The nurse next to him about to inject his IV line with some narcotic to knock him out thinking on how her date was ruined for the night. Dicker feeling guilty about the kid he just hired being in agonizing pain as he watched from outside the room though the observation glass. And the MP that was holding him down a minute ago so that the nurse could get to the IV was thrown away thinking "oh shit" as Harry threw him back with another power: telekinesis. If it weren't for the fact that he was in pain and was about to be TKO'd for a while he'd be overjoyed at one of his childhood dreams of becoming a Jedi coming true. The next feeling he knew was the sweet bliss of consciousness.

XxXxXxX

 _One year later. Metroville High School._

It had been an... interesting year for Harry. He had been trained in the ways of spy craft: how to follow a target silently without their noticing, how to disassemble and reassemble every weapon currently on the market for both military and civilian variants, how to break into safes, how to hack civilian computers, how to create a rock solid cover story, how to seduce women, and a multitude of martial arts. Through with the last one, he cheated with his telepathy to know what move his opponent was going to use next and counter it. He also learned, primarily by himself, how to use his telekinesis and telepathy. He did get help though by the way of a lead-lined beanie, of which the lead was wrapped in ballistic fiber, that he was wearing that would keep the thoughts of others out; he could take it off for a short time, but the time depended on how noisy other peoples' minds were in their thoughts, after that he would get a migraine that would increase in strength and pain until he put it back on. It was expected this would be the new norm until he could ignore the thoughts of others and focus only on his own He remembered back to the briefing a week ago in Dicker's office.

 **[Flashback]**

 _Dicker's office, Washington D.C._

Harry sat on the chair in front of his boss waiting for him to start the briefing. "Mr. Callahan," Dicker said as he entered the room and sat in his chair, "how's the mind reading?"

"It's getting better, sir. The dampening hat helps but the occasional outside thought slips in," Harry replied.

"Good, good." He pulled out a folder and handed it to Harry. "This is the dossier on the family you've been tasked with watching." Harry opened the file to see résumés, both civilian and Super, for the two adults and power dossiers and power analysis for the three children. There was a family photo alongside a newspaper clipping showing the same family, minus the baby, fighting a giant robot. "The Parr family consists of the father Robert aka Mr. Incredible, the mother Helen aka Elastigirl, daughter Violet, son Dashiell, and baby Jack-Jack. Bob has super strength and is able to lift and throw things dozens of times, if not more, heavier than his mass. Helen can twist and contort her body into different shapes and different lengths similar to that old toy Stretch Armstrong. Violet has two abilities, the ability to turn herself invisible and the ability to project shields able to deflect most strikes and projectiles within reason."

"Reason, sir?" Harry said as he looked at Violet's file, he had to admit she did look rather beautiful.

"During the fight with the omnidroid created by Syndrome, she was able to deflect, albeit for a short time, several strikes from the droid's arms which were able to crush cars with ease. I was able to conduct a brief interview with her and she was able to easily deflect bullets away with it as well."

Harry whistled, "Impressive."

"Indeed. Dashiell, though he prefers Dash, is able to run fast enough to run on water. He tends to be a bit cocky and excitable."

"Does he play Time in a Bottle or Sweet Dreams while he runs?" Harry joked. (2)

"Cute," Dicker replied unamused. "The final member of the Parr family is Jack-Jack, and he's a complete unknown."

"Is that short for Jackson or a nickname for Jack or something?" Harry asked as that was a very unusual name.

"We never asked," he admitted dismissively.

"And how is he an unknown?"

"We don't know if his abilities are still being developed or if he's the most powerful Super of all. From the interview we for from the babysitter he was floating through walls, intangibility, he lit himself on fire and stayed that way unharmed, pyromancy, he turned himself into lead, he turned himself into a demonic baby to fight off Syndrome. We don't know if this is his power, the ability to change and alter his body or if he's still developing. He's one that you need to keep an eye on if that changes and update is in the situation."

"Objectives?"

"Infiltrate the family in any way possible: as a family friend or neighbor, use the fact you're alone while your 'dad' is overseas to your advantage; the daughter is around your age so you could try and romance her as your way in."

"Understood, sir."

 **[Flashback end]**

Harry stood in front of the door that leads to the Biology classroom, his first class that he was late for because he had to take care of paperwork in the office, but luckily he had a hall pass. He wore a gray t-shirt with the band logo of Korn on it and wore a black leather jacket, he had his red lead-lined beanie snugly on his head, a pair of acid washed blue jeans, and a pair dark blue Converse hi-tops. He no longer had glasses on as he had received laser eye surgery to take care of his shortsightedness. His very noticeable and recognizable scar had been a little more difficult requiring surgery to cover it with a skin graft as it was a curse scar and couldn't be healed, but it could be covered. He had dyed his hair brown to make himself even more unrecognizable by anyone who knew or knew about him in his previous life.

Harry knocked on the door and waited. "Come in," a middle-aged man's voice said from the other side. Harry entered the room to see the entire class looking at him. Harry handed over his hall pass to the teacher. He read it over before saying, "So it appears we have a new student. Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Harry looked out towards the diverse class that had an even split of boys to girls. Though Harry was able to ignore most of the thoughts in the room, some were curious while others didn't care. "Sure. My name is Harrison Callahan, but if you want you can call me Harry. I'm currently sixteen and moved here about a week ago," Harry introduced himself. He made sure to use a pretty generic Midwestern accent, as that was where his persona had lived until now.

"Well now that that's out of the way, why don't you have a seat next to..." the teacher trailed as he searched the room, "...miss Parr over there."

Harry walked over to the girl that had the empty seat to her right and took a seat. He set his bag down next to the desk and extended his hand towards her, "Hi, I'm Harry."

Not much about Violet had changed from her picture that the agency had, her hair had grown out a little more, it seemed like she grew an inch or two taller, and, without sounding perverted, she seemed to be coming nicely into her own in terms of physical attractiveness sporting a desirable, symmetrical figure and face. "I'm Violet," she replied somewhat shyly as she took his hand and shook it. Sure, her confidence had been boosted since the Omnidroid incident and fight with Syndrome, but she still had some lingering insecurities that occasionally popped up from time to time, like when interacting with new people. 'He's kinda hot,' she thought to herself, unknowingly broadcasting it to Harry. To which he smirked.

XxXxXxX

 _After school._

Harry and Violet had the same classes, well except for Home Ec. as Harry had opted for the Automotive repair. It was like someone had manipulated his schedule so that they had class together all day. That's probably because that is what happened. He snuck into the Principal's Office two nights ago and hacked into the network, changing his school schedule to match hers were they had the same class. While this sounded beyond creepy, he needed to be either a romantic partner or a best friend to her as part of the assignment.

Harry walked out of the school to see Violet waiting near the steps, more than likely waiting for one of her parents to pick her up. He walked down the stairs and said, "Hey."

"Oh, hi," she replied.

"I was wondering since I'm new around here if you'd be willing to show me around to any of the cool or interesting places in town this weekend."

"Umm, I already have a boyfriend."

Ah, yes. Tony Rydinger, the 'coolest' person in the school. According to the reports he had read, and after some asking around, the resident cool guy attempted to ask Violet out, but she, in turn, asked him out. If word of tongue was correct he was also a bit of a playboy as all the girls chased after him and practically threw themselves at him. He was also smug in an 'I can get away with anything because I'm so cool' way. "Well, it's not a date, just showing a fellow student new to the area."

"I'll uh, think about it," she replied with a slight blush, of which she almost lost control of her powers and turned invisible.

Harry walked out to the parking lot and found his motorcycle. He started the Suzuki model bike and placed his helmet on, sliding down the visor, before peeling out. He pulled around so he went in front of the school where it looked like Tony was grilling her about Harry, in fact, Harry could sense his jealousy. As Harry sped past both looked at him, Violet wondering who he was and Tony glaring daggers at him. 'Well it looks like things might just work in my favor after all,' Harry thought as he passed a station wagon who had Ellen Parr in the driver's seat. 'Well maybe her mother can help me out in this unknowingly.'

XxXxXxX

 _Harry's house, garage. That evening._

 **{Paranoia, A Day to Remember}** (3)

The heavy rock music of a band he didn't quite know who the artist was since he was streaming it from some database, the only constraint is that it had to be hard rock. He was currently working on his pet project, a 1970 Plymouth Cuda. It was a nice car and he had acquired it from some elderly man who was getting up there in age and wasn't able to drive as much as he would have liked and sold it to him for a bargain.

He was currently under the car working on it. Something was rattling around the last time he took it out and he was determined to figure out what was causing it. He felt a presence approaching the open garage, a not so friendly one. "If you would be so kind, I have a ¾ inch socket wrench over there in the toolbox that I need," Harry said nonchalantly, holding out his hand.

Instead of a socket wrench being placed in his hand, he was pulled out from under the car by an irate looking Tony. "Can I help you?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You can stay away from my girl," he, quite angrily, replied.

"I'm sorry, I've never seen you before so I have no idea who your 'girl' is."

He grabbed Harry by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up so that Tony was right in his face. "Yeah you do, that bike you got there is the same as the guy that drove by today."

"Wow, just...wow. You're accusing me of being some random guy you've never seen before based on the fact you saw someone who happens to have the same bike as me," Harry replied incredulously.

Tony dropped Harry, to which Harry landed on his feet effortlessly. "You better watch your back."

"Is that a threat?" Harry asked, his voice suddenly getting more serious.

"You better bet your ass it is," Tony growled.

Tony then felt something seize him in some sort of grip. He was completely frozen in place. Harry calmly straightened his shirt. "Some people do not take kindly to threats, like me." Harry then circled Tony, still frozen in the psychic stasis field.

"W-what did you do to me?!" he exclaimed in shock and fear.

"Something that your puny mind can't comprehend."

"Y-you're one of them, a Super!"

"No, I'm not. In fact, you're not even going to remember this conversation. Funny thing is, what you did is classified as assault, meaning technically I can press charges for trespassing and assault. However, that will be unnecessary in this case." Harry invaded Tony's mind and ripped away every memory pertaining Harry and the reason why Tony confronted Harry in the first place. He then triggered a small jealousy switch in his brain; basically, it would make him go haywire whenever he saw anyone besides Harry with Violet. It was his little way of getting back at Tony. Let chaos reign.

 **To be continued?**

XxXxXxX

 **That's all I have for this pilot. But before I take off I do have some notes for you of the numbered variety.**

 **1\. You can consider this an abridged version of the monolog from the opening from _Burn Notice_ , one of my all-time favorite shows.**

 **2\. Those of you who have seen _X-Men: Days of Futures Past_ and _X-Men: Apocalypse_ will know EXACTLY what I'm referring to.**

 **3\. Give me a break on the time this song came out, I'm well aware "Paranoia" by A Day to Remember came out March 10, 2016, however I couldn't find a song that I liked from 1996 or 1997. Just run with it, it's a pilot.**

 **But anyway I couldn't find an appropriate place to really end this for a pilot, plus I was writing the last section during my countless death respawns playing _Overwatch_. That and I was sort of drunk. Yay, drunk Phil! Well, let me know what you think because I got other stories to work on. You guys know what to do. See you next time.**


	5. A Naruto pilot (The Prodigal)

**NOTE: This story has been sitting on my hard drive for close to a year and a half.**

 **Hey, there party people! For the last few weeks I've been reading some Naruto fics that go into the neglectful family idea and I had an idea that delves into that same genre. Now I've decided to take a little creative freedom and decided to put the Elemental Countries in a rift inside of the Dragon's Triangle off the coast of Japan. Now, why? Because 1) I can, and 2) I haven't seen it done yet. Also, Naruto and Hinata will be the only two from the cannon genin class that will be the same age, the rest will be younger. If you don't like it, there's the door. Right back there. You might have to press the back button there. Still here? Fantastic! Alrighty then let's get this show on the row.**

 **Rating: M. Currently T+ for implied sex scenarios.**

 **Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters, they belong to Kishi himself. Any original characters may be mine, but those that aren't will be noted. Any of the characters names used are fictional, any coincidence with any real people is in fact coincidence. This fic is not for profit, I won't be making a single penny off of this at all.**

XxXxXxX

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze looked back at the closed wooden gates to his village, the one that housed him for thirteen years. Just over the wall, he could see the Hokage Monument, the mountainside where the current and previous leaders' faces were carved into it. He took one look to the fourth face before hacking up a large spit wad before launching it towards the village he just left. Now, why would a young man dressed completely in black be spitting towards his former home in the middle of the night? Well, this deep-seated reason goes back close to nine years, the year of the Kyuubi attack.

XxXxXxX

 **[Nine years ago, T-minus 12:30 to attack]**

Four-year-old Naruto was in his room playing with his plush fox he got from his mother on his last birthday, and like any child with a plush toy he took it everywhere and loved it to death, regardless of the fact that it isn't alive in the first place. He ran into the kitchen where his mother Kushina was making breakfast and his father was lugging luggage to the front door.

"Tou-chan, what's with the luggage?" Naruto asked.

"Well your mother has to go someplace safe while she brings your new siblings into the world," Minato replied as he stacked another suitcase on top of a sealing scroll of his own design.

"But where?" he insisted.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you," Minato replied. Naruto looked sadder than he had expected. "HOWEVER I can tell you that you'll be able to see your new siblings tomorrow," he said with a reassuring smile.

"OK!" Naruto said excitedly.

 **[T-minus twenty minutes to attack]**

"ARRGH! MINATO!" Kushina screamed as another contraction took place. "I'M GOING TO MURDERLATE YOU FOR THIS!"

"Kushina, sweetheart, that isn't even a word," Minato said in an attempt to comfort his wife.

"DO YOU THINK I GIVE A FLYING FUCK!?" she rhetorically asked as Minato stabilized the seal again.

"I think I see the head," the elderly Biwako stated.

 **[T-minus twenty seconds to attack, with Naruto]**

Naruto felt a shiver go down his spine, and his protector noticed. "Is there something wrong, Naruto-sama?"

"I don't know Neko-chan, I just feel like something bad is about to happen," Naruto replied to the female ANBU member in the room.

"I am sure that everything's fine, your parents wanted you in bed now," she said as she ushered the child towards his room. The ground shook as an explosion ripped through the village, followed by a roar and an oppressive aura. 'Either this boy is a natural born sensor or a psychic,' she thought to herself. "Come Naruto, quickly. We must get to the bunker."

The screams of thousands of civilians rushing to predetermined shelters in case of invasions by another village. Dozens of shinobi lectured their young genin children on their duties.

"But tou-san, I know how to fight!" one red eyed teen argued.

"I know you do, sweetheart. But this is something that the next generation of shinobi shouldn't be giving their lives for this soon. You JUST graduated from the Academy," the male, her father, said while ruffling her hair a bit. "Now listen up. As boring and glory less as it may sound, your job this night is to keep watch over all those in this bunker along with your fellow former classmates."

Hours passed as explosions ripped through the village. The shockwaves rumbled through the mountain as a beastly roar was heard constantly. A large gust of wind blew the doors of the bunker off as an explosion made the ground shake behind the mountain bunker. In that moment Naruto saw something, as well as everyone else in that bunker that night, that would be burned into his brain until the day he died. What he saw that day was a several dozen story tall orange-red feral nine tailed fox. Then a moment later it was gone in a yellow flash. However, Naruto wouldn't know the rest of the events that would happen that night as he passed out shortly after.

XxXxXxX

 **[Four years later]**

Naruto held in his nine-year-old hands a set of training kunai, blunted blades for training in close quarters combat and for throwing without fear of harming an ally. He threw one of his blades and it landed far from the target. He repeated the process several dozen times yet he never hit the bull's-eye. 'Perhaps I should ask mom or dad for some pointers,' he thought to himself.

He walked to another part of his family's compound and found his father and mother training his twin sisters, who were four years old chakra manipulation. Naruto was confused, his class had only just started talking about accessing their chakra via meditation later this week, assuming of course that everyone in the class was prepared. Why were those two already learning how to use their chakra already?

He walked slowly towards his parents, who looked proud of their daughters. Naruto knew that they held one-half each of the Kyuubi's chakra by the Sandime's sacrifice that night. Some theorized that he wanted to be with his newly deceased wife, others thought that it was his last hurrah. Regardless of what scuttlebutt was said about the Sandime's behavior that night, Naruto was cautious of his sisters for what they held at bay. The family were the first ones to be notified of what the twins contained. Naruto shortly after broke into his family's library and found his great-grandmother Mito's diary on being a host to the Kyuubi. Those that contain these beings of pure chakra might draw upon it unknowingly in times of high stress or emotional distress. He was always kind to the twins, but that didn't mean he wasn't careful.

"Good job Mito," his father shouted to the elder of the twins. While she was identical to her twin in every way, she had the trademark Uzumaki red hair but with pure white highlights. She contained the yin portion of the Kyuubi's chakra. When talking or interacting with others she was always has a friendly, bubbly personality. Naruto looked as she ran up the tree in their back yard a good five feet before falling to the ground.

His other sister, with his mother, was doing the same exercise. "Kasumi, watch how much chakra you are putting into your feet while climbing," his mother shouted in both encouragement and correction to the younger of the twins. Her hair is the same color as her sister and mother, but with deep black highlights, as if light itself couldn't escape from them. She held the yang portion of the Kyuubi's chakra. Her attitude was always cold and calculating. If one were to dye her hair completely black and leave her in the Uchiha compound they would assume she was one of theirs. Both of them loved their 'onii-chan' in their own way.

"Dad?" Naruto asked walking up to his father. He got a questioning hum in response. "I'm having a little problem with throwing my kunai, can you give me some pointers?"

His father stood there watching his sister, "Naruto, can't you see that I'm busy with your sister? Go ask your mother."

He walked over to his mother. "Mom, I've been having some issues with my kunai throwing. Could you give me a few tips on how to throw them more accurately?"

"Sorry Naruto, I'm busy with Kasumi. Why don't you ask your father?" she asked.

Naruto's shoulders slumped as he walked back inside his family's home, which with every passing day felt less like one to him.

XxXxXxX

 **[Sixteen hours ago]**

It was test day, or more precisely the morning of test day. Naruto had already failed the genin test twice already. The Academy usually wasn't this lenient as students only got two strikes before they got removed from the Shinobi Program as sometimes a student may blank out on the material on the written portion of the test or their nerves may get the better of them affecting their performance during the thrown weapons test.

As for Naruto, he wasn't stupid by any means. If one were to look at his records they would see that he had perfect marks on all written test material with an IQ that could rival a Nara clan member. While his throwing skills were not perfect, they were excellent for a genin soon-to-be graduate, well above any of the civilian born Academy student. The taijutsu exam he aced by mixing the Academy's style with the Uzumaki style he studied himself from his mother's notes. However, it was the ninjutsu portion of the exam that killed him every time. He would always nail the Substitution, using any of the objects in the exam room as well as the pre-provided log. The Henge he used was the perfect infiltration technique, the chakra used formed a physical shell that perfectly copied another's image down to the last acne scar on a person's face if they had it.

No, it was the Clone Jutsu that killed him. For some reason, he had yet to figure out why it wouldn't work for him. Every time he performed it his clones would always turn out messed up in ways ranging from them looking like brainless, drooling copies of himself to them dispersing just as soon as they appeared. This was his last attempt, his father even said so six months ago when he failed the second time.

Naruto walked into the kitchen to eat something before heading off to the Academy. He saw his father at the table and thought this would be a good a time as any to try and get some last minute tips from him.

"Dad," Naruto started and his dad turned towards him. "This is my last attempt at taking the exam, and I was wondering if you had any tips on how to do the clone Jutsu."

"Did you study the scrolls provided to you by the Academy?" he asked sounding distant.

"Yes, but-."

"You'll be fine then. You know what will happen if you fail again." Naruto didn't reply as he already knew. His dream was to be a ninja after all, and it's a little difficult when you're not in the program.

XxXxXxX

 **[Two hours later]**

The exam proceeded as it did the other two times for Naruto. He finished the written test in fifteen minutes and spent the rest of the time trying to figure out how to pass the final portion of the exam. During the taijutsu test, he countered all of Mizuki's attacks and knocked him out of the ring. The thrown weapons test went well enough, as usual, he got eighteen out of twenty targets dead center. Then came the ninjutsu exam.

Iruka opened the door as a civilian in the class left the exam room with her newly acquired headband. "Namikaze Naruto," he called.

"Wish me luck," Naruto muttered to no one in particular. If he were to have turned around he would have seen a pale eyed girl looking at him wishing him luck in her head.

He walked into the room and saw the two chunin instructors waiting. "Naruto, please perform the Substitution Jutsu," Iruka requested. Naruto switched himself with Mizuki's chair, causing said instructor to fall on his ass with Naruto standing behind him with a smirk on his face. "As impressive as that was, please use the provided log to get full points."

"If you say so," Naruto said as he substituted himself from where he stood with the provided log, said log landing on Mizuki.

Iruka marked a few things down on his clipboard. "Now please perform the Henge Jutsu." Naruto made the appropriate hand sign and a puff of smoke appeared, the smoke dispersed revealing a twenty-year-old female Naruto in a cocktail dress. Iruka hid his nosebleed behind his clipboard while writing down some more notes. "Impressive. Now perform the Clone Jutsu."

'Fuck,' Naruto thought to himself. 'Well, here goes nothing.' He prayed a small prayer to whatever god or goddess was listening in. He formed the appropriate signs and a puff of smoke appeared and three sickly looking clones appeared next to him.

Iruka sighed before marking a big x over the final check box. "I'm sorry Naruto, but you fail."

Naruto made his way back out into the classroom before walking straight out of the Academy without making eye contact with any of his classmates. The same pale eyed girl from before looking on in shock. Naruto walked back home, determination in his eyes. 'Do you know what? Fuck them. Has anyone helped me over these last few years? Fuck no. You don't owe them anything,' he thought. 'I'm not a shinobi so they can't mark me a nukenin. I should leave, I have the skills to protect myself so long as I avoid the skilled enemies.' One way or another, the next twelve hours were going to be spent planning. And avoiding his family completely.

XxXxXxX

 **[Present]**

Naruto walked towards the edge of the barrier that monitors all ingoing and outgoing chakra signatures. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a scroll, on it read 'Barrier Infiltration Seal'. From what he was able to gather, once chakra was added to the seal it would disrupt the barrier for ten seconds allowing a small team to infiltrate a village, or in this case for someone to leave undetected. It was then he felt the presence of another person behind him.

He grabbed one of the kunai he kept hidden on him. "Whoever you are, it would be wise for you to show yourself," he stated. A figure emerged from the bushes nearby. "Hinata?" he asked slightly surprised.

"Umm… Naruto-san, what are you doing?" she asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm leaving." He started to set down the disruptor seal.

"But why? Don't you wish to stay in your home anymore?"

"My former place of residence has felt like less of a home each year since my sisters were born. It doesn't help what my father was going to do to me."

"What do you mean?"

"Every time I asked for help I was pushed away, cast aside for my sisters for some unknown reason. A truly unknown reason. At least until I eavesdropped on my parents one night a few years ago. There was some sort of prophecy involving my sisters and my parents accelerated their training to master the chakra of the Kyuubi. When my mother asked about me and my training, my father said to let the Academy do its job. Did you know just before the twins were born I was supposed to start training, just like every other child of a clan does? I understood why they put it off for the first year, taking care of two infants is no small task, but after that? They just kept pushing me further and further away."

"But what about your father, what was he going to do to you?" she asked worriedly.

"From what I can guess I would have been married off to some daughter of another Kage or a Daimyo for political reasons. I'm not getting married off on his terms in some loveless marriage. It's my love life, not his!" he finished as he finished the setup.

"Let me come with you."

Naruto paused, thinking what she just said was the wind messing with her words. "What?"

"Let. Me. Come. With. You," she enunciated.

"And why, pray tell, would I do that?"

She paused, looking saddened. "I've heard what the Hyuuga elders intend to do once Hanabi reaches the age in which she can accept the mantle of heiress. They want to place the Caged Bird Seal on me and leave me with the Branch families."

Naruto was stunned. What father would allow this to happen to his daughter? "Won't your father do anything? Surely he can protect you from them."

"Yes, but not forever. All he has to do is leave on a business trip and they can perform the sealing without his knowledge. After it's placed, it can't be removed. He would have no choice but to leave me with the branch families regardless of how much it would pain him inside."

Naruto contemplated his options. Leave her and leave a loose end for his family to look into? No, they'd have me back in a heartbeat considering that she has some sort of crush on him. Kill her? Can he really kill a girl the same age as him that's pretty much defenseless, making him a murderer? No, that won't do. Take her with him? She'd be a traveling companion, able to watch his back. They'd be able to sleep in watches rather than him keeping one eye open; the downside is that he only packed for one person, not two, he'd have to stop somewhere and resupply.

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Fine, you can come with. But you'd better pull your weight. I was expecting to do this by myself."

She hugged him suddenly, making him step dangerously close to the barrier. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I won't let you down. I'll be right back with my supplies," she said as she stepped to leave.

"You can't, we don't have time. I had access to the watchers list for the night, we have a five-minute window, and we're currently in it. Any longer and we'll be discovered. We'll get supplies on the road. I may have raided my parents' personal safe in the house for what's rightfully mine by inheritance." She only nodded in reply. It was going to be a long road ahead.

XxXxXxX

 **[Seven years later, global year 2014, Undisclosed mountain range]**

A male and female figure climbed up a sheer ice wall dressed in warm white clothing using ice picks and claws on their steel-toe boots. They pulled themselves up and over the crest of the cliff before checking their weapons.

"All good," the woman stated. "You?"

"Copy, I'm five by five," the male stated before freezing up for no apparent reason.

"You ok?" she asked 'looking' concerned behind her balaclava.

"Yeah, I just feel like things are going to get a lot more complicated for some reason back home," the male stated raising his suppressed rifle. "Let's go."

XxXxXxX

 _Meanwhile in Konoha…_

A small gathering of people were inside of the Hokage's office. As the last person entered and the doors closed the security seals first placed by Uzumaki Mito activated. "Jairaya, why have you called us here?" Kushina asked. She never was the same when her 'baby boy' disappeared seven years ago. While she retained a semi-happy outlook for the public, she usually had bouts of depression in private.

"I think I have some news on _his_ whereabouts," the perverted sennin replied.

"You mean-?"

Both her husband Minato and the Pervert nodded. "Yes, we may have a lead on Naruto."

"But how, didn't we lose all traces of them in Wave Country?" Kasumi asked with slight disinterest, as was her personality.

"We did. BUT there have been rumors floating around about a male-female mercenary duo that will do almost any job, so long as you have the money to pay it all the way out in the Outer Countries." Their eyes widened at the mention of the lands outside of the barrier supposedly erected by the Sage of the Six Paths eons ago. Only those with chakra could come and go as they pleased; those without, well, they were unlucky and were never seen from again. "It is said that the woman wields a weapon that throws slugs of metal at extreme distances and she had never been snuck up on."

"That sounds a lot like the Byakugan's abilities," Mito stated.

"It does. Those adept in using the Byakugan are able to see for kilometers ahead and near three hundred sixty degrees within a few dozen meters around them," Minato added.

The Pervert continued, "As for the man he is said to be just as skilled at ranged combat as his female counterpart, but his real expertise is in close quarters combat, primarily with a ninjato and another weapon that doesn't seem to translate over well, a _handgun_ *. It is said that if you face him it would be better to start praying to whatever deity you believe in because you'll be facing them as soon as you finish. It is also stated that they excel in espionage and stealth missions."

"Where is he? Where's my baby boy?" Kushina asked while shaking the old sennin.

"'Baby boy' mother? He has to be at least twenty by now," Kasumi stated.

"That's where we hit a snag. He keeps moving. There are rumors of him being in a country called Iraq, another called Columbia, Brazil, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and many more. As of this point, it is borderline impossible to pinpoint his location or where he lays his head," the old spymaster replied.

The room went dead silent. "If we can't find him, why not bring onii-chan to us?" Mito asked.

"What do you mean, sweetie?" Kushina asked.

"Well, you said that they'll do any job for the right payment, right?" The sennin nodded. "Then why not make them a contract with a hefty monetary incentive?"

"Why didn't I think of that?!" Jiraiya shouted.

"Probably because your nose is too deep inside your own smut to think clearly," Kasumi replied coldly.

"That settles it then. The first time we have an opportunity to make a job offer to these two, assuming they are Naruto and Hinata, then we'll present a job offer," Minato stated.

"I will have one of my contacts in the Outer Nations know to be ready to try to make contact with them. Once you have a job in mind, let me know," Jiraiya replied.

 **(Play "You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar, But I'm a Millionaire")**

"I just hope my baby boy is ok," Kushina prayed out loud.

"Onii-chan will be fine, what's the worst that could happen?" Mito asked. And everyone stared at the teen. "What?" Little did she know, she just jinxed a mission.

XxXxXxX

 _Meanwhile with a certain man and woman…_

Snow whipped around the man and woman as they sped along a snow and ice-filled valley. That and bullets.

"HOW THE FUCK DID THAT GO SIDEWAYS?" the male yelled over the wind and snowmobile engine.

"HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I KNOW?" the female yelled back as she fired a few rounds from her sidearm that hit three of their pursuers. "TREE!"

"I SEE IT." They swerved between trees as the mountain started to get steeper. "WE'VE GOT TWO COMING UP," he stated as one of the enemies chasing them smashed into a pine tree. "ECHO-419 WE ARE COMING IN HOT, YOU BETTER WARM UP THOSE ENGINES." A snowmobile pulled up along his right side and he pulled out his own sidearm and put a few rounds into the driver, causing both occupants to crash.

 _"Keep heading towards the current LZ, just be ready to do something insane,"_ the woman on the other side replied.

They heard the trademark 'thump-thump' of rotors flying over them to see their Osprey heading towards the sheer cliff just ahead, the rear hatch starting to lower. "OH SHE IS **NOT** THINKING WHAT I THINK SHE'S THINKING!" the woman exclaimed.

"DO YOU REALLY WANT TO TAKE YOUR CHANCES WITH THEM?" the man asked aiming his gun at another enemy trying to get alongside them.

"IF WE DON'T MAKE THIS, WE'RE HAUNTING YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR NATURAL BORN LIFE," the female shouted into the radio.

 _"Noted. Now hurry your asses up,"_ came the reply. The VTOL set itself around a dozen yards away from the cliff face.

The duo raced down the hill, their pursuers still firing upon them. Soon the mountainside sloped into a steep incline. The man accelerated past the top speed the machine was originally intended for. He dodged rocks and more trees as he lined himself up with the cargo bay of the VTOL. "HANG ON TIGHT!" he yelled as the snow mobile launched off the cliff. As they moved closer the Osprey started moving further away to compensate for their speed. He stretched out his hand and yelled " **Ninpo: Gurappurā wa kotchi ni Getto!*** " A chain with a sharp spear point exited his hand, piercing the VTOL's hull. He then reeled in the chain pulling him and the woman inside of the cargo bay. He turned towards the cockpit, "Go!" The rear hatch closed. The duo breathed a sigh of relief as they removed their masks and goggles. "You alright, hime?" he asked.

"I'm fine Naruto, I just have a few bruises. You?" she asked.

"All good here, Hinata. You have the goods?" Naruto asked.

Hinata dug what looked to be a solid state drive out of her cargo pants pocket and showed it to him. "Yep. I think the American government will pay us quite handsomely for retrieving the hard drive of one of their satellites that landed in North Korean territory. Now I can finally get my hands on that Cheytec M-200 Intervention," she practically drooled just thinking about it.

Naruto snagged the drive from her hand, "OR the money could be used to pay off our mortgage."

"Tsch, such useless expenses."

"Well you love living in the house we're currently in, now don't you?" he asked teasingly. Placing his hand on her cheek he gave her a heated kiss, which after a few seconds had her wrapping her arms around her lover, keeping him in place.

They finally pulled away from each other, giving them a chance to breathe. Hinata's cheeks were blushing beet red. "Well I wouldn't miss the house as much as the nights we spend in it," she replied sultrily. "Nights that we can practically spend anywhere now that I think about it," she said as she placed her index finger over his lips while her other hand gripped her lover's 'package' softly. "Even here," she whispered into his ear before lightly nipping his earlobe.

Naruto had to fight against his hormonal urges to take the woman there and then inside the gunmetal gray interior of the Osprey and satisfy both of their urges. "While I would love to, hime," Naruto replied using Hinata's pet name. "I don't think our pilot would be too happy us doing the horizontal mambo in her plane."

"Damn straight I wouldn't!" a voice shouted from the cockpit. "While I don't mind you two getting it on without me, you're not doing it in my plane." The two lovers sweat dropped.

"Fine Fu, as soon as we land and get our payment we'll get a hotel room and we can all have a post-mission celebration. How does that sound?" Naruto asked.

"That sounds SO much better. Thank you," Fu replied with satisfaction. Her mind, on the other hand, was filling with all the perverted things that they could do in 'celebration' tonight.

XxXxXxX

 _Many hours later at the US Embassy in Tokyo…_

A Japanese man walked onto the Embassy's property. There were discretely armed guards patrolling and watching those walking past and those coming and going from the property. The man entered the embassy itself and walked up to the receptionist, a pretty young woman who could be an intern. "Can I help you, sir?" she asked in fluent, yet accented, Japanese.

"Yes, my name is Satoshi Sato and would it be possible to speak with the Ambassador?" the man replied.

The woman typed on her computer as she pulled up the visitor's log. "And the nature of your visit request?"

He leaned in after taking a quick look from side to side. "I have need of your government's assistance in finding a couple of individuals for a job."

She eyed the man with a suspicious gaze before finishing the submission. "I have inputted the request, please wait and I will call you when he becomes available."

An hour passed before the man was called into the Ambassador's office. He walked in and took a seat in front of the man's desk. The Ambassador reached forward and shook the man's hand before taking his own seat. "So Mr. Sato, how can I help you today?" the Ambassador asked.

"Mr. Ambassador, I am aware that in the past your government has hired a mercenary duo to do several jobs for them," Sato stated.

"I have no knowledge of these people," the ambassador replied honestly. "Even if I did, what would you want with them?"

"I would like to hire them on the behalf of an associate of mine."

"What for?"

"They did not specify their requirements of a task to me."

There was an uncomfortable silence that lofted in the room. The ambassador sighed, "I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything concrete."

Sato rose before shaking the man's hand again. "Thank you, Ambassador. My associates will be most pleased by this gesture."

 **To be continued?**

XxXxXxX

 **Translation notes:**

 **Handgun – Now I do know that they do have firearms in the Naruto-verse, however, they are limited to rifles similarly used in the Renaissance period rather than our current auto-loading, self-contained munition firearms of today. Hence why "handgun" would be strange to them without actually looking at it. And the term "sniper" would probably only be recognized by the samurai in the Land of Iron as they do use bows.**

 **Ninpo: Gurappurā wa kotchi ni Getto – Roughly translates over to "Ninja Art: Get Over Here Grappler." A technique that Naruto developed after seeing** ** _Mortal Kombat_** **'s Scorpion using a chain to pull his opponents towards him. He uses this technique with his Uzumaki bloodline's Chakra Chains. As they are adamantine they are harder than most metals and therefore slice through most metals and flesh of course.**

XxXxXxX

 **Well, that's all for this one. Now please note that the formatting is much different than what I've been doing in my more recent fics. This correlates to my initial note at the top of the chapter where this originally sat on my hard drive for close to a year and a half, that time was when I first really started using this site and contemplated writing fics for this site. This may not be my best work, but I did think that the plot idea was interesting enough to post.**

 **If you'll notice there are a few references in the chapter itself. First is the mission that Naruto and Hinata are on, this references the mission "Cliffhanger" from** ** _Modern Warfare 2_** **. The second is "Echo-419" which is a direct reference to the callsign used by a character in** ** _Red vs. Blue_** **, one of my all-time favorite shows.**

 **That being said, that pretty much wraps up this pilot idea. Let me know what you think about this one. I thought the plot idea was interesting, but again since this has been dormant for a long time I have no personal idea where I was going with this story.**

 **Until next time!**


	6. A SW:TFU x Overwatch pilot

**Hello FFN! Guess who's back with another idea? Me! So what is this idea? Well as you can more than likely tell from the chapter heading it's a** _ **Star Wars**_ **and** _ **Overwatch**_ **crossover; and for further clarification the** _ **Star Wars**_ **GAMES universe. That means pretty much delving into the Extended Universe, my personal favorite place in the realm of fiction. So what game am I talking about?** _ **Star Wars: The Force Unleashed**_ **. Now before you groan and close the window because you hate the game, I have no animosity towards the first game, the second, on the other hand, is one I despise because it seems like it seems like some fanfiction was given a break and was allowed to write the entire screenplay for** _ **TFU2**_ **. I mean, bringing back Galen via cloning and him somehow remembering everything that happened in the previous game without any explanation why. I mean, is it the Force ghost of the original Galen that was giving the clone the memories? And more importantly: why? I mean, it just doesn't make any sense at all. Ranting aside I think we can all agree that the inclusion of the first** _ **Force Unleashed**_ **game told a decent story, though at times the controls were less than desired and the inverse of the second game. It shows the story how one young man who gets manipulated into creating a rebellion by his master, betrays his master when he tries to kill him yet again, and inadvertently creates the formal Alliance itself.**

 **Again, you might be asking "where are you going with this?" Well, I've seen a few stories on this site of scenarios where the spirit of Galen either leaves the universe or becomes reincarnated either as another person or as himself, again, for whatever reason. Some of them are pretty interesting, however, some have been pretty much been untouched for forever. So I thought that I would throw this one out there.**

 **Do note that this relies on some heavy speculation on what the official timeline really is for the** _ **Overwatch**_ **universe. The biggest downside is that Blizzard has yet to actually release an official timeline allowing us to know when specific events took place. Some out there have created some really good timelines on Reddit as an introduction on what we could have, though it specifically deals with characters rather than world events, though a few are mentioned, primarily the first and Omnic Crises and Overwatch's founding and dissolution. The other resource I used as a reference was Polygon's "The Complete OVERWATCH Timeline – History and Lore" video (** watch?v=NASG-PQi8zw **). While there is some contention on where exactly the shorts that Blizzard has release fall in to, everyone agrees that the Overwatch game takes place 60 years in the future, Overwatch is founded 5 years after the Omnics begin the first Crisis, the first Crisis lasts 5 years, and 20-some years after its founding Overwatch is disbanded. Everything else is speculative on when it exactly happens.**

 **Rating: T to T+ at the most.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Star Wars: The Force Unleashed**_ **belongs to LucasArts (and Disney by extension).** _ **Overwatch**_ **is owned by Blizzard. See foreword for full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

" **Radio transmissions."**

XxXxXxX

 _1BBY. Emperor's Throne Room, Death Star._

Galen had fought with his former master, Darth Vader, and had successfully pushed him back to what was an elaborate throne room meant for the Emperor. He had a choice in front of him and he made it quickly, that being of either destroying his former master once and for all or facing the Emperor and saving his friends and allies. He chose the latter. The battle between Galen and the Emperor was severely one-sided as no matter what Galen did the Emperor was able to counter him. He could tell that the Emperor was playing with him as if almost testing him to see his worth or something.

Finally, Galen had an opening. Galen charged at the Emperor, his blade in his preferred reverse grip. The Emperor sent torrents of Force Lightning at him, to which he air-rolled aside to dodge the lethal attack. He jumped on top of a console and leaped up before sending a powerful Force Push towards the Emperor, which impacted the seemingly frail old Sith which staggered him for but a moment before he sent torrents of Lightning once more at Galen, to which Galen absorbed with his lightsaber. He closed the distance to the Emperor, his blade cackling with Force Lightning along the blade and Pushed the Emperor once more, staggering him. He then Pushed into the ground, forcing the Emperor up in the air before Gripping him and slamming him into the ground.

The Emperor laid face down on the ground, smoke from varied explosions swirling around both him and Galen. He looked at Galen sharply and said, "You were destined to destroy me." Galen could feel the anger rise inside of him, it wanted him to kill the Emperor and end him and his Empire. "Do it," Palpatine spat, "give in to your hatred."

Galen ignited his blue blade and contemplated killing him, after all with the Emperor out of the way the galaxy would be free once more. He then felt a hand on his shoulder. "He is beaten," Kota said from behind, "let it go."

Galen grunted in both frustration and anger, "It's a trick, he's stronger than you know and he deserves to die for what he's done to me."

"Maybe so, but if you strike him down now in anger you'll right back where you began," Kota pleaded.

Galen took a moment to catch his breath, to calm himself down. "Get Bail and the others out of here." Galen then extinguished his lightsaber, "I'll be right behind you." Galen could already sense the _Rogue Shadow_ landing near the Emperor's domed throne room. Then Galen felt a twinge of warning in the Force just microseconds before the Emperor shot up and shot a continuous torrent of Lightning at Kota, causing him to fly back and land with arcs of lighting coursing around him. Galen didn't think twice before jumping in front of the Emperor's Lighting onslaught, absorbing and deflecting as much as he could to allow his friends to escape. Galen looked to his left, seeing Stormtroopers closing in with Vader close behind. He looked to his right yelling at his allies with a pained yelp, "Go! Hurry!" Kota finally got up and shot Galen one last glance. "Protect the senators!"

Kota merely nodded in understanding and ran away as Galen continued holding his ground as Stormtroopers fired upon his friends, missing as Kota used a Force ability to mess with their helmets to aid in their escape. Galen stepped closer and closer to the Emperor, ignoring the pain that he experienced from the Emperor's attack. Galen could feel that his friends were far enough away and stepped close enough to hold hands with the Emperor before unleashing whatever Force power he had, yelling out before exploding in a blaze of glory, falling into the sweet blackness of becoming one with the Force.

The _Rogue Shadow_ and her now freed prisoner passengers sped away from the Death Star. Back with the Emperor and Vader, the entire throne room was a mess, debris everywhere from Galen's one last try to kill the Emperor to protect his friends. Vader painfully walked towards his 'fallen' apprentice, breathing heavily as his suit was damaged and needed repairs. He looked down and expected to see his apprentice's corpse, but only saw a blacked outline of where his body should be. Palpatine slowly walked up to Vader silently and looked on to the remains of one of the most powerful Force-users of this time.

"He is dead," Vader stated, his voice modulator and a real voice saying in sync.

"Then he is now more powerful than ever," Palpatine stated, lamenting at almost replacing Vader with an even more powerful apprentice cum enforcer for the Empire. "He was meant to root out the Rebels," Palpatine revealed, "but his sacrifice will only inspire them."

"But now we know who they are. I will hunt them down and destroy them. Just as you always intended, master."

Palpatine turned away, almost in disgust at Vader, but turned around once more, "You must be relentless, Lord Vader. If even a single Rebel survives then this Alliance that you unwittingly created will be our undoing." Palpatine left Vader alone who only looked on to his former apprentice's remains. Or where they should have been at least.

If only were it so easy to die.

XxXxXxX

 _Unknown place. Unknown time._

Galen was floating in a black void completely empty of any sound or light. He didn't know how he got here but all he knew was he was stalling Emperor Palpatine while his friends escaped on the _Rogue Shadow_.

"Rise and shine, Mr. Marek. Rise and shine," a mysterious voice said from in front of him that formed into a ghastly appearance of a man in a suit, putting inflections on words in an odd way. "No one is more deserving of a rest and all the effort in the galaxy would have gone to waste until... let's just say your hour has come again." The man then turned translucent, his eyes, mouth, and general facial features remained visible as what would be his skin showed what looked like a giant droid, mech, or robot destroying a city. "The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So wake up, Mr. Marek. Wake up and smell the ashes." (1)

The suited man faded from view and a tunnel with a light at the end replaced him. Galen held his arm over his face to keep himself from being blinded by the light. His ears were filled with horns coming from vehicles and a warning in the Force from behind which made him jump away just in time to not be hit by a ground vehicle. Taking a moment to look around he saw that he was in a city that was vastly inferior technologically to many galactic cities. As he looked around something seemed off about this city. It was uncomfortably empty. There were street lights lit and some cars flying down the street, primarily away from the coastline, but many of the buildings were either dark or in ruins. The Force was warning him of something. Something near the shoreline.

Waving off the warning for a moment, he took inventory of himself. He was still wearing the same white overcloaked, black leather robe he was wearing aboard the Death Star, albeit with a few more scorch marks from the Emperor's lightning attacks and blaster fire coming close enough to singe his clothing. He reached down and pulled his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it for but a moment, it's aqua blade appearing in a snap-hiss, the weapon's signature humming filling the empty street. He examined the hilt and blade, even with the magnetic containment field containing the deadly plasma he could see the arcs of electricity occasionally arcing off when he looked close enough as the field cycled, allowing for it to briefly escape. The hilt was still in pristine condition, although a bit unpolished, after all he had made sure to reassemble and service it once more before assaulting the Death Star. Galen felt another weight on his belt and found another lightsaber, identical to the one he always used. He pulled it from his belt and ignited it, finding that it was of a emerald green color.

He extinguished them both and placed them on his belt right as he heard people screaming and gunfire coming from the general direction of the coast. He leaped up on the rooftop of the nearest building and ran across the rooftops, the Force enhancing his speed, as he ran towards the chaos. He reached the end of a rooftop that looked over a rooftop and looked below, and what he saw both chilled and angered him. Bi-pedal droids were firing upon civilians using projectile weapons not dissimilar to blaster bolts. The civilians didn't stand a chance as they were slaughtered by the quicker thinking machines.

Galen summoned his blades to his hands in a reversed Jar'Kai lightsaber style and leapt from the roof into the largest cluster he could and released a Force Shockwave that knocked many of the surrounding droids into the air, he ignited his lightsaber and cut down several of the droids, leaving only bisected droid chasses behind. The droids only stared at him for but a moment before they attacked him. They started to fire upon him with their guns to which Galen responded with Form V, Shien, the retaliatory form, deflecting the bolts and rounds back towards the droids with no problem. He struck down those that were close to him, leaving more bisected and decapitated droids behind, sparking where they had once been connected to their chasses. It was only a few seconds for Galen, but the squad of droids that were indiscriminately killing civilians were destroyed either from his lightsabers or from him deflecting their rounds back at them.

"Are you alright?" Galen asked the surviving group of civilians.

"We are fine," one of the women asked in broken Basic.

Galen nodded. "Good. You need to get out of here, I fear that things will only get worse."

The woman spoke in her own language, not Basic, and explained the need to hurry away. "Who are you?" a boy asked.

"The right man in the wrong place, apparently," Galen replied before leaping away to the rooftops once more. Galen felt a disturbance, one that would only bring destruction. It didn't take the Force to tell him that whatever this place's military was mobilizing as streaks of light were coming down from the sky. Galen ran across the rooftops towards one of them and saw a larger droid attacking the smaller bipedal droids. No, they had living beings inside them, he sensed. The droid turned around to show him the front that was completely clear and riddled with lights across it, a HUD, that living being inside it was a pilot.

The pilot was firing rotating cannons that fired some kind of particle based weapon in a scatter gun styled pattern. This particular craft was colored pink with some sort of animal on its sides, was bipedal with its two cannon arms, it had a type of jump jet or rocket pack mounted on wings on both sides of it. The pilot started firing into a group of droids, shredding them with the cannon's blasts. A few of the droids jumped onto the front of the pilot's mech in an attempt to get at the pilot inside. The pilot responded by igniting the mech's boosters and rammed into the nearest building, crushing the droids but leaving the mech undamaged except for a few scratches on the mech's paint job. It didn't take the Force to tell him that larger units were on their way. Galen looked on as larger droids stomped closer, much to the pilot's obliviousness. Galen's lightsabers found their way back to his hands, ready to strike.

Meanwhile down below, oblivious to the fact she was being watched from the rooftops, Hana Song, aka D-Va (2) to her online fanbase that knew her by her username on Starcraft II, was having a blast. And by 'having a blast' that meant being thrusted into a high adrenaline combat scenario wielding a combat mech equipped with dual fusion cannons complements of MEKA fighting waves upon waves of hostile Omnics coming from the sea. She already rammed three that jumped on the front of her mech into the nearest building with an assisted rocket thrust, and her kill count was rising as Omnics found their way into her sights. These were the grunts, simply the Omnics that every average Joe saw walking on the street with guns, which were beyond easy to take care of since they were just cannon fodder for the defending Korean army to waste ammo on before the sent in the heavy hitters and aerial units to strike when they were weakened.

"Get good, noobs," Hana said cockily, primarily for her online audience. Her radar then lit up behind her and she could hear stomping that definitely wasn't from another MEKA unit. She turned just in time to see six Bastion units turn the corner, their guns pointed at her, two of them transforming into their turret forms. She was about to boost out of the way when two blue, humming blurs flew in front of her, slicing through all six Bastion units like a hot knife through butter. The last one was taken out a different way though. The two blurs of light suddenly flew upwards towards a figure who held them before stabbing both, of what she now realized were some sort of blades, into the top of the Omnic before kicking it away in an amazing feat of strength into the building behind her. "Woah," she said in awe.

Galen turned his attention to the pilot and saw that she was no older than he was, no more than a year or two. "Are you alright? You were almost droid slag," Galen asked, deactivating his lightsabers but still keeping them in his hands.

Him speaking in English shook her out of her momentary stupor. "Yeah, though I didn't need any help," she replied, keeping a 'confident' face for her online stream.

Galen looked her with a skeptical eye. "Right." Galen then kicked one of the downed droids. "What's with the droids, why are they attacking people?" After all, Galen truly didn't know why these droids were attacking these people indiscriminately. All he knew was that this planet was vastly inferior in technology to what the Empire possessed, even if some of their technology was implemented and how it was used was impressive for a civilization such as theirs.

Hana balked. 'How does he not know about the Omnics and this area's danger?' she asked herself. "Are you an idiot? Have you been living under a rock or something for the last twenty years?"

Galen paused to search for the right words. After all, he had no idea if alien beings were a common occurrence on this planet or not. "Let's just say I'm… from out of town."

"Even if you were from out of town you'd still know that-." Hana was interrupted by her radio suddenly coming to life.

" **Officer Song, report to the LZ at the police station to assist the evacuation effort,"** a male voice said from the other side of the radio.

Hana activated her own radio and responded, "Copy that."

"Need help?" Galen asked.

"What makes you think I need your help?" Hana cockily replied. Galen only replied with a thumb pointed towards the fallen Omnics. "Oh, right. I guess you could tag along."

"Which way?"

"Follow me, I guess," she shrugged. "I hope you can keep up," she said before taking off with her booster rockets. Galen only shook his head before leaping after her, keeping pace, though Hana had no idea how, though.

Eventually, they did reach the police station and saw civilian police forces firing on more of these Omnics, the bipedal, easy to take down kind, while several other of the mech units were firing whatever variants of the weapons that the girl, named Hana, Galen found out, had on her mech unit.

"Hey, wait!" Hana yelled as she thought that the man she had just lead to a firefight just leaped to his death in some sort of suicidal attack strategy. But she, and her countrymen were shocked at what the man did next.

It was safe to say Galen wasn't one to follow orders. It probably had something to do with his former master, Darth Vader, burning him twice. The first being him being promised to kill the Emperor with Vader, the second being that Vader would accept him back if he started a rebellion but was betrayed again. You could say it was betrayal that led him on the path of a Jedi whereas normally that would fuel a Sith to gain revenge on the ones that attempted to kill him in the most humiliating and painful way possible. But he didn't choose that path, instead, he chose, for the first time in his life, the Way of the Jedi. Like his father before him. That was the reason he didn't listen to Hana.

He jumped down with reckless abandon into the crowd of Omnics with his lightsabers ablaze. He landed with a blast of Force energy, repulsing many of the Omnics back giving him enough time to slice many of them that were within the range of his blades. He sent an overpowered Force Push, which he dubbed Force Cannon as it would launch enemies hit by it like a ragdoll launched out of a cannon, into a crowd of Omnics that not only launched the Omnics directly in front of the blast away violently, but also any that were near it into their comrades either damaging them to the point of being unusable or just creating a hole where their comrades once stood. It didn't take the Omnics very long to process that the male wielding two glowing blades was a bigger threat at the moment rather than the MEKA or defending humans with guns.

Many of them charged at Galen and the soldiers defending the civilian evacuation watched in awe as the lone swordsman cut down dozens of Omnics on all sides as they continued to charge him until it appeared to the people watching that he was going to be overrun by the Omnics. Galen then extinguished his blades before hopping up in the air, curling into a ball, and prepared to use a technique that he had used multiple times before. Those looking on saw what seemed like the air forming some sort of shell around the strangely dressed man before it rapidly and violently lashed outward in a sphere that not only pushed back the Omnics that were surrounding Galen, but also disintegrated the ones closest to the center of the blast while throwing further ones away violently.

"What are you waiting for?" Hana shouted at her countrymen, gaining their attention after she too had remembered she was in a fight. The soldiers regained their senses and started firing once more on the Omnics that Galen wasn't engaging. The soldiers and mech units cut down a mass majority of the Omnics before they turned tail and retreated back towards the shore, which was only a few blocks away. The soldiers cheered as the hostile Omnics were routed. Hana noticed that the man who followed her wasn't celebrating, nor did he deactivate his 'laser swords', but was looking out towards the shore, towards the East China Sea. She walked her mech over to him and asked, "Why aren't you celebrating? We totally owned them."

"This fight isn't over," Galen calmly responded, every hair on his neck stood on end as the Force was sending him huge warnings of danger, like the time he pulled an Imperial Star Destroyer out of the sky and slammed it into Raxus Prime.

Hana only gave him a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Those weak ass Omnics ran away after seeing just how overpowered we were."

"They had us outnumbered and would have overtaken this position shortly after they ran out of munitions. Even with the abilities I possess I, like many before me, can fall to overwhelming forces."

"Quit speaking all cryptic-like. We won and they've-." And as if commanded by some sort of deity for some kind of twisted comedic joke, the earth started to shake cutting Hana off as the soldiers behind her were shouting 'Earthquake, get to cover' in Korean. Waves from the coast began to surge inland as the water broke less than five hundred meters from the shore And what emerged was a 'small' Omnic head, maybe the size of a car, followed by a massive torso and legs that easily stood as tall as a small skyscraper. The massive mechanical monstrosity had massive cannons on its arms that looked to launch shells as large as train cars. "-bought back a friend," Hana finished in a deadpan.

The Omnic then looked directly at Galen, a red hue. Immediately behind the two, a man shouted in fear, "The Kaiju has returned!"

"That's fantastic, how do you kill it?" Galen asked.

Hana just blanched at Galen. "How to do… what?!" she shouted as the massive Omnic started to swing its arm slowly towards them, the clouds in the sky resounding with thunder.

"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, how do you kill it?"

"You can't kill it," Hana said calmly, almost in defeat. "The Kaiju, the largest of any known Omnic, has been terrorizing the cities and towns along the East China Sea for almost twenty years and every time we've engaged it, it always retreats after we've come up with a new strategy to combat it and completely undermines our efforts to eliminate it." The Omnic finished swinging its arm and aimed directly at them. "And we're now going to die."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Galen said confidently. The Force screamed in warning as the Omnic fired a shell towards him. The instant the shell started moving Galen pushed the shell against the cannon's wall causing the shell to veer off course the instant it exited into a nearby multistoried building sending rubble and shrapnel everywhere except where the massive Omnic had been intending to fire. Hana opened her eyes to see that she wasn't dead and that the building a block away was completely decimated.

"How did-?"

"Nothing is impossible with the Force as my ally, or at least that's what Kota told me." Galen shook off the growing fatigue he was starting to feel. "Where is its weak point?"

"The head and chest? No one's really been able to kill this thing if you haven't noticed."

Galen only hmmed as he considered his options, at the same time the Omnic was looking at its cannon arm trying to process what had just happened. After all, it was a precision machine whose weapons were calibrated before every raid it would conduct. "Well, this wouldn't be the biggest thing I've destroyed this month," Galen offhandedly said.

"What do you mean by-?" Hana was cut off as Galen threw his sabers towards the Omnic, controlling the arcs they made before they slashed at the Omnic's torso creating an X shape that extended a dozen meters for each slash. This was impressive and awe inspiring as nothing had been able to penetrate the Kaiju's armor in every recent raid it had appeared at.

The Omnic looked at its chest in shock, surprised just like the rest of the humans still cowering beneath its gaze. It let out a loud series of binary commands, to which Galen was able to recognize was similar to Droid Binary with an extreme accent, which roughly translated to 'attack.' Galen caught his sabers just as Hana turned to look at him oddly. "Do you even have a plan?!"

Galen's eye traveled over to the destroyed building that had loads of steel girders sticking out of the wreckage, then his eyes shifted to the growing storm brewing above them. A plan formulated in his mind, the crazy 'this will probably only work once and might result in my death' kind of plan. "I hope you like crazy because it's the only thing I've got!" Right as he finished speaking hundreds of Omnics of various models rounded the corner, intent on killing them all. "Keep those off of me. And stay out of the water!" Galen ordered before leaping to the nearest rooftop.

"Come on, guys. Let's kill some ads!" Hana shouted as her mech strafed enemies with fusion cannon fire.

XxXxXxX

Meanwhile, in the air, a dropship belonging to the old but newly revived Overwatch, albeit illegally, flew towards the city of Yeosu, South Korea. For what purpose? To evacuate as many civilians as possible to prove to the nations of the world that Overwatch was back, though starting with humanitarian efforts at first. Why? The granddaddy of all Omnic war machines, which the locals had 'lovingly' named the Kaiju in reference to Godzilla and other massive movie monsters that had once again reappeared off the coast of Korea.

On board this dropship were Winston: the super genius gorilla, Lena Oxton aka Tracer: the hyperactive time jumper, Angela Zeigler aka Mercy: the revolutionary doctor and medic of the group, and Genji: the cyborg ninja swordsman formerly of the Shimada clan as he was assumed to be dead. Winston was slightly disappointed and disparaged as these three were the only ones to answer the Recall so far. Either the former members of Overwatch had lives they weren't willing to give up and had moved on from the 'good old days' or were unable to answer the Recall. (3)

As they approached they saw the massive Omnic taking hits from the Korean air forces attempting to strike at the Omnic, but were inevitably shot down by its anti-air defenses. "Attention: Sixty seconds to drop point," Athena said over their communications network.

Tracer blinked over towards the window and watched as something interesting happened. "Hey, guys. Take a look at this!" she announced to the group.

The three remaining members walked towards the set of windows near the exit and looked on as a pair of lights, one blue and one green, carved an X into the Omnic. A minute later a large steel girder came from a destroyed building, lodging itself deeply into the center of the X carved into the Omnic. "What could…" Winston trailed for a moment before ordering, "Athena, take us in closer!"

"Advisement: That would be dangerous considering the Kaiju's anti-air defense matrix."

"Just do it!"

"Override accepted. Moving closer."

XxXxXxX

Back with Galen, it was time to implement part two of his insane plan. And by plan read 'making it up as he went along.' The steel girder had penetrated a good meter inside the Omnic's chassis, exposing it to a certain element that Galen had a lot of experience using, Force Lightning. While Force Lightning was powerful against soft targets and unprotected droids, he had no idea what internal shielding the inner mechanisms had. Therefore he had to do something more drastic; after all, this wasn't like pulling an _Imperial II_ -class Star Destroyer out of the sky and letting gravity take care of the rest, for the most part. Though this Omnic was much smaller than a Star Destroyer and weighed much less.

Galen summoned a storm of Force Lightning that surged around him as he stood on the corner of a rooftop and shot it towards the sky, into the storm system above. The tendrils of Lightning rolling into the clouds above. Galen ceased his attack and immediately felt the hairs on both his neck and arms stand on end. "In hindsight, probably not one of my best plans," Galen muttered. A bolt of lightning then discharged from the thunderhead above and headed straight for him. He reacted by molding the Force around his outstretched hand into a protective shield cum siphon and aimed with his other hand pointed towards the giant Omnic.

To say that it was painful was an understatement, but nothing was as painful as either being stabbed through the abdomen with a lightsaber or facing the Emperor's hatred and malice through his Force Lightning assault. Galen reflected the pure might of natural lightning into his own Force Lightning, releasing a storm of blue hued Lightning whose bolts were much thicker than any known Sith had produced before him. The storm homed in on the protruding steel girder and entered the Omnic's body causing insurmountable internal damage. The Omnic bleeped in perceived digital pain as the storm continued to ravage its innards. Finally, the bolt of lightning's energy was depleted and Galen's own Force Lightning returned to its normal state. Somehow the Omnic still wasn't dead as it was still standing, its single eye still looking at Galen in both fear and rage at what he had just done. Not willing to take any chances at this Omnic attempting to search him out in the future to kill him in vengeance, Galen extended both hands and gripped the sides of the Omnic's torso similarly to how he pulled down the Star Destroyer and began to squeeze it through the Force itself.

The Omnic began to slowly rise dozens of meters above the ground as it looked around in confusion trying to process what was happening to it. Galen then clenched his fists, immediately causing creases, stress fractures, and an effect that can only be described as slowly crushing a tin can. The groans of stressed metals collapsing could be heard for kilometers around, even to the members of Overwatch who were landing near the police station. Seeing that the Omnic was completely structurally unstable, Galen brought his hands together as if he really were crushing a tin can in between them, immediately causing the torso of the Omnic to implode on itself in one single crushing sound. Galen released the now completely damaged Kaiju from his Grip and allowed it to land on the beach closest to them in a ball that was half of the Omnic's original size.

Seeing that their Kaiju leader was defeated, the Omnic soldiers and other specialized units dropped their weapons and began to either surrender or run away in fear. Galen leapt down from his rooftop perch and landed gracefully like a feline would. He then felt a disturbance in the Force, but not a hostile one. One that was more akin to someone ripping open a rift in the Force to teleport through time and space. "Bloody wicked moves there, love," a woman asked as she suddenly appeared next to him in a heavy Corulag accent. Galen jolted back at her sudden appearance. "Sorry 'bout that," she then offered a hand and introduced herself, "Lena Oxton, at your service. But you can call me Tracer if you want to." She then looked out at the now wrecked Kaiju once more. "I'd say 'the cavalry's here,' but it looks like you have it covered."

"Galen Marek," Galen replied while shaking her hand.

"That was an impressive show of power, young man," Winston said as he approached the now growing crowd of people gathering around them. "Winston, just Winston," he introduced himself.

"Yeah, you totally owned the Kaiju," a young woman wearing a skintight suit consisting of multiple colors said as she joined the gaggle of people. Galen noticed that it was the pilot from before. "We never properly exchanged names. I'm Hana Song, but I'm commonly known as-."

"D-va!" Tracer said as she Blinked over to Hana. She then pulled out a pad of paper and a pen from one of her jacket pockets and held it towards the young woman and asked, "Can I get your autograph?" Tracer asked excitedly.

"Sure! Anything for a fan," she said as she took Tracer's pad and pen. "Love, D-va," she said as she held out the pad once more.

Winston cleared his throat to regain control of the situation and bring it back on topic. "I have a proposal for you if you'd be willing to hear it," he asked.

"I'm listening," Galen replied.

"I'm rebuilding an organization to prevent such things from this happening again. Things around the world are falling apart and this world needs heroes once more. This world needs Overwatch once again. So I ask you, will you join us?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a hyperdrive capable ship lying around, would you?"

"Hyperdrive? As in superluminal travel?" Winston asked. Galen nodded. "Sorry, no we do not, I'm afraid."

Galen was going to turn and walk away when the words said by the man from his very strange trip he had before battling these machines. 'The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.' "I'll join you if anything to help protect the helpless. It is the Jedi way," Galen replied. What he didn't include was 'from what old man Kota told me, that is.'

"Splendid! You know, you can have your own code name if you want."

"I guess when on missions you can call me…" Galen paused to think of something that was familiar, "Starkiller."

 **To be continued?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, that's the chapter. Now I am well aware how OP Starkiller/Galen is and when you think about it all of the** _ **Overwatch**_ **characters are super OP when it comes to their human counterparts (sans Bastion as he's a robot made for war) and I figured this would be interesting. Now why is this a pilot? Like I stated above in the intro notes, there is no official lore outside of what Blizzard has told us and revealed inside of the animated shorts and comic books. Until more is released for me to work off of, I can only speculate and would rather have concrete material to work with rather than speculation on what** _ **Overwatch**_ **'s story really is.**

 **What I hope to accomplish as an endgame for this story, should it come to fruition: Galen joins Overwatch, Galen falls in love with someone on the team (right now D-va is the most likely because of age), have some sort of adventure, a climax of sorts, and an end. This is what I hope to accomplish, but again until I get more official storylines from Blizzard that I can work off of, this will remain a pilot.**

 **And before I sign off for this installment into my repository, notes!**

 **1\. If you follow any of my flagship stories then you'll know I like to throw in cameos in here and there, if you guessed G-man from** _ **Half-Life**_ **, you'd be correct.**

 **2\. Please note that this is intentionally done. For whatever reason FFN does not allow for anything resembling a URL inside chapters at all, hence why I refer to D-va with a "-" in the middle instead of a "." in it. Same reason why I use her real first name instead of her callsign/Gamertag.**

 **3\. Ok, so why these three (not including Winston) so far? Well, I would assume that Mercy would want to rejoin to continue helping the wounded worldwide. Genji was confirmed in his and Hanzo's short to be part of Overwatch, and Tracer was one of the first people that Winston called. Will more people join? Yes, but obviously not in this pilot chapter.**

 **And that's all I got. I hate to do all this pandering BS, but I gotta do it that way it gets said. Like and favorite to see more, and let me know if I really should continue this one into a more conventional chapter based story (please see my reasoning why this might not happen for a while yet though).**

 **And as always I'll see you guys all next time.**


	7. A HSOTD x Naruto x Division pilot

**Hey there guys, welcome to another one of my plotbunnies. Yeah, I have a lot of these. So in the description you saw that this is a Naruto and HoTD crossover, however there is a THIRD. Normally I hate the word three-way-crossover, but it's primarily characters from the Naruto-verse inside of the HoTD-verse. The true crossover in all of this is HoTD and the Division.**

 **Now I would like to note that this was originally started before the game actually released so therefore the ideas that I have inside this fic are different compared to the game and the game's lore.**

 **Disclaimers: I own nothing. I only own my laptop and my copy of MS Word. Characters from _Naruto_ belong to Masashi Kishimoto and _Highschool of the Dead_ belongs to Daisuke Saito and Shoji Sato; _The Division_ belongs to Ubisoft and whoever has the holdings of Tom Clancy. **

XxXxXxX

 _White House, West Wing Bunker. December 31, 2013._

"Are the lines secure?" a man asked.

"They are, Mr. President," a communications officer replied.

"Good. Patch them through." Around the table twenty faces appeared on computer screens, all with their individual webcams. "Ladies and gentlemen of the world. I asked you here this day via teleconference to make a proposition to all of you. As you all know global terrorism is at an all-time high and though over the years we have made strides together to prevent unnecessary loss of life, both militarily and civilian, we can't prevent it all nor can we truly expect how our enemies will strike next," the President stated.

"What are you proposing, Mr. Ambrose?" the British Prime Minister asked.

"I propose the creation of an international unit. As you all know Team RAINBOW was created years ago from our most elite units: the Army Rangers, Navy SEALS, Delta Force, Green Berets, MACV-SOG, FBI, SWAT, SAS, GSG-9, DGSE, and so on. These forces have done their job well under the command of Director Major General Terrance Clark and Deputy Director Colonel Alistair Stanley, however we need a force in place when everything goes to shit."

"How will this work?" the female Prime Minister from France asked.

"They are all selected from our best and brightest. They will remain sleeper agents in their respective countries in major cities waiting for the call to arms. They will know their team members and their strengths and weaknesses. They will be a semi-autonomous unit capable of carrying out their orders without the chain of command present."

"And how would this be a good idea for a unit?" the German leader asked.

"We need to plan for the very worst. If our respective country's leadership dies for whatever reason during the scenarios that are given to the members of the unit they will be able to complete their mission. If it is a viral outbreak then an antidote needs to be found, so on and so forth."

"And what do you wish to call this unit, if we approve, Mr. Ambrose?"

"I propose we call it the Division."

XxXxXxX

 _One year_ _and then some_ _later. Tokonosu City, 1400 hours._

To everyone that knew the blonde English teacher of Fujimi Academy as Menma Uzumaki, the twenty-five-year-old was man with a laid back personality that, as long as you paid attention and did the work in his class, was a mellow guy to be around. On the other hand, if you interrupted his class for something outside of an emergency situation he'd berate you until your ears bled. One thing he would not tolerate in his classroom? Cell phones. If he saw your texting, and he would ALWAYS see it, he would confiscate it until the end of the day. However, he was a bit of a hypocrite as he left his phone on his desk with the ringer on full blast. He would always get calls and texts, but ignore them, which many of the students though was weird. It was as if he was waiting for someone specific to call or text him. He also always dressed in olive drab cargo pants with a t-shirt, which for some reason the school's principal allowed, much to both the Student Body President and many of the teachers' disapproval.

"And remember class, homonyms, while they are annoying to remember which specific word goes in the sentence, it's still important. If you were to submit an application and your resume to a company in dominantly English speaking nation and make horrible errors, commonly referred to as Engrish hilariously enough, there is a high possibility that you will be passed over for someone else. Remember, while Google Translate will assist you, you need to know correct sentence conjugation to avoid such errors." Menma picked up his instructor's copy of the book. "And if you'll turn to page one thirty-four you'll see-," he said before being cut off by his phone going off.

Normally he would ignore it, but this time it was a ringtone that the class had never heard the phone emit before. The weird thing for the students was, it was a completely innocuous ringtone, Flight of the Valkyries; however, the blond English teacher froze up instantly upon hearing the ringtone. He turned around towards his desk and picked up the phone before saying very professionally in English, "Go."

"Captain Naruto Namikaze, the Division has been activated," came the baritone male voice from the other side. This made the very careful façade of calm fall into worry with composure.

"Situation?"

"A weapon of biological nature was unleashed in several major cities all over the globe, as well as the city you and your team is in."

The blonde teacher then pulled the duffle bag he always brought with him out and placed it on the table. He opened it and placed a Bluetooth headset in his ear. "Why would they target this city? Washington or New York make sense, but here as a first strike? That doesn't make any sense."

He then unzipped the false bottom that hid what he needed. "We don't know, but we suspect that the father of a man named Koichi Shido, Ichriou Shido, is responsible for supplying the attackers with the agent with his connections to a biomedical firm he owns. Be warned, the CDC warns that infection with the agent is fatal within six hours, and transfer of the virus is done through bodily fluids, avoid all contact if possible, but more importantly avoid fluid exchange. The infected try to bite the uninfected, they also die within six hours of infection and turn into abominations."

"So zombies then," he semi-deadpanned. "Fantastic. Anything else I should know?"

"They don't move very fast, from what we've seen from surveillance in LA, but they are attracted to sound. Suppressors and caseless munitions are advised."

"Objectives?"

"Infiltrate the biomedical firm, find Ichriou, and find the antivirus if it exists."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Terminate both father and son with extreme prejudice."

He equipped himself with the items from his bag, which made some of the students recoil in fear, especially when he pulled out a suppressor and a Kriss Super V, otherwise known as the Vector, that had a holographic EOD sight on the top rail. "Status on the rest of my team?"

"Real-time navpoints have been added to your map. We don't know how long until we're overrun by these zombies but we'll support you as long as we can from here. Good luck, and Godspeed," it was then the line was closed. Naruto took the other firearm, a 45T with a suppressor, and placed it in the holster on his thigh.

Naruto then twisted the innocuous wristwatch until it started glowing orange around the dial. At once a holographic rendering of the entire city appeared with a marker over the school with the name 'Kurama' above it. "Woah," a few of the students said now impressed by the next generation technology instead of being afraid of their teacher now armed to the teeth. Naruto noticed that the designated marksman was downtown.

He switched his headset over to the frequency assigned to his team, "Hawkeye, how copy?"

"Naruto, I'm glad to hear your voice? What's your situation looking like?" a female's voice replied.

"Other than being in a school with untrained civs on the precipice of chaos any minute now? Unnervingly calm."

"Have you heard from Rook yet?"

"Shikamaru? No, I have not. It wouldn't shock me though if he's sleeping in his apartment unaware of our activation."

Naruto looked out of the window and saw a shambling person walking towards the gate and the PE teacher taking note, watching the shambler closely. "It wouldn't shock me in the slightest. Try calling him again and I'll try to meet up with you guys at the Alpha Site as soon as possible. I don't know how crazy it is going to get. Be warned that the hostile infected are sensitive to sound."

"Command sent me the memo. I'll try and if I hear nothing still I'll attempt to fetch him."

"Copy that, Kurama out," Naruto said, closing the call. The shambling corpse kept running into the gate in a moronic way, causing the PE teacher to go up to it. Naruto then turned to his class. "Listen up! As of ten minutes ago Japan and many other countries have declared martial law due to a viral outbreak."

"What kind of virus would cause for multiple countries to declare martial law?" one of his students asked.

"The kind that spreads through blood and saliva transmission and turns the living into the walking dead."

"Zombies?" a haughty schoolgirl scoffed. "What do you think this is, a bad sci-fi B-movie?"

"I don't know how they did it, but they did." Naruto sighed. "I do have a job to do so please try to stay alive, find fresh water, and watch your backs, you never know who is going to take advantage of this scenario in order to push their own personal agenda or ideals." And with that Naruto left the room which left the classroom in an eerie silence. Said silence was broken when a scream was heard from outside, the shambling "drifter", or zombie, had bitten the PE teacher in the arm and blood gushed from his arm, he rolled on the ground screaming in agony until he fell over dead, laying on the ground. The now dead PE teacher stood still for a solid minute before he shot up and grabbed one of the female teachers, biting her neck, killing her as well. Naruto was watching through the window, the safety on his Kriss already off. "And so it begins," he said as he fired a single shredder round towards the now zombie PE teacher, killing it.

His efforts were in vain as this virus would soon spread like wildfire from teacher to teacher, teacher to student, and student to student. Naruto didn't need some mathematician to tell him that a massive chunk of the student population in this school would die and become one of the horde. It was inevitable. Naruto took to the roof and make ready to bunker down until he could reach the Alpha Site, the primary rally point for their team.

Naruto chuckled almost in some sort of reminiscence. "I guess they were right, when society falls, we rise."

 **To be continued?**

XxXxXxX

Division Dossier:  
Naruto Namikaze  
Rank: Captain  
Alias: Menma Uzumaki  
Callsign: Kurama  
Team Designation: Leader, Rifleman  
Personal History: Naruto comes from a single parent family home due to his father, Minato, dying in the initial wave of Operation: Desert Storm II. His mother, a Japanese native, moved him back with family in Tokyo. Naruto finished in the top ten of his high school class regardless to the fact he constantly got in fights primarily because of his "gaijin" father and his inherited blond hair. When he turned 18 he moved back to the US using his dual citizenship and enrolled at UCLA. While he wasn't the valedictorian or the salutatorian, he did graduate with a solid 3.7 GPA. He enlisted in the US Army a month after graduation.  
Service History: After enlisting with the Army, his skill and dedication did not go unnoticed by the higher ups, primarily those in charge of the Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group; otherwise known as the Ghosts. After the 2013 campaign in Mexico City to rescue the President, Namikaze retired from the Army and moved back to Tokyo. In late 2013 he was approached by the CIA to participate as a sleeper agent, along with three others, for the Division. Due to his calm under fire, he was considered for team leadership and was later nominated for the leader of a team. Namikaze was assigned an English teaching job at Fujimi with a cover provided by the Prime Minister's assurance it was rock solid to await activation.

Hinata Hyuuga  
Rank: Sargent  
Alias: Rukia Kuchki  
Callsign: Hawkeye  
Team Designation: Overwatch, Designated Marksman, Scout  
Personal History: Hinata is the eldest daughter of Hyuuga Optics CEO Higashi Hyuuga. She has a sister, Hanabi, who is three years her junior and a cousin, Neji, who is two years her senior. Her mother died when she was three due to birthing complications during her sister's birth. During high school Hinata joined both the Archery and Kendo clubs and excelled in both and would later join the same sports clubs at Tokyo University, though she was forced to choose one due to time constraints and chose Archery. Her prowess in archery and marksmanship would later translate over into the use of firearms, primarily rifles, during a business trip with her father during her third year in high school to America when they were the guest of a potential business partner who owned a large estate and trap shooting range. Despite never firing a gun before, she was able to shoot down every target, even when multiple clay pigeons were launched at the same time. This newfound hobby of hers would create a father-daughter bonding moment, though for her father it was an acquired taste. Hinata would later go on to join the JDSF as a markswoman until she was recruited by the Division.  
Service History: While the Sargent has never personally seen combat deployment, she did see action in the form of an "exchange" program where she studied and completed the US Marine Sniper School. She was occasionally loaned out to local police forces to deal with hostile suspects from afar when they were uncooperative and threatened the safety of the hostages when things would come to a head. During every evaluation she scored in the top percentile of marksmen in the country and with an accuracy with a sniper or designated marksman rifle in the percent of the high nineties. When selected by the Division to become an agent, she was placed in her father's medical company as a "honorably discharged" veteran.

Shikamaru Nara  
Rank: Lieutenant  
Alias: Rintaro Okabe  
Callsign: Rook  
Team Designation: Suppression, tech expert, strategist  
Personal History: Shikamaru Nara is what can be considered a genius. His IQ is reported to be of 160 and at times has been considered "abrasive" towards those who are of "lower" intellects, usually because of his occasional lack of social interaction. He graduated high school at the age of ten and graduated from Tokyo University as the Valedictorian of his class at the age of fifteen specializing in a degree in electrical engineering. He had no official military training until he was recruited first as a member of the Research and Development team on the JDSF and was later recruited.  
Service History: The majority of Lieutenant Nara's service was in the Research and Development department creating new devices and strategies for the military. After he was picked up by the Division he was trained on the usage of light machineguns. He is currently living as a NEET until activated.

XxXxXxX

 **Alright, so what did you think? This was one of those stories that popped into my head shortly before _The Division_ was released and sat on my HHD forever before I rediscovered it similarly to that "Prodigal" story I released in here not too long ago. **

**Reasons why this most likely won't continue: Division lore. It's completely different from what I showed here. Not that it couldn't work, but there's too many continuity errors that would make it impossible to work with. Next up is how I would implement the HOTD universe into all of this. I mean the simple side of it would be capping Shido and just going with it, but where would I go from there? I mean the entire series hasn't been updated in forever and the manga is in development hell while we wait for the next installment from the mangaka.**

 **If you can find all of the little easter eggs then kudos to you. This is being finished late at night so this is me calling it a night.**

 **See you all next time!**


	8. A JCA x HP x WH13 pilot

**And so the Lord sayth unto Philly: "Thou shalt have the idea to create a** _ **Jackie Chan Adventures, Warehouse 13, Harry Potter**_ **crossover for no reason what so ever." And that's how I got this idea. The whole idea behind this is as follows: Jade Chan, the niece of Jackie Chan in the cartoon, joins Section 13 in the future, but is recruited to Warehouse 13 at the request of Claudia Donovan, the new caretaker of the Warehouse and Harry, a British Auror newly graduated from the Auror Academy stumbles onto an Artifact heist and is invited by the Board of Regents to join as well, becoming Jade's partner. The whole idea was to recreate the Myka and Pete team dynamic with two new characters. And this is what I came up with. You're welcome FFN.**

 **Rating: M – for adult themes and language.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **The Jackie Chan Adventures**_ **belongs to the Warner Brothers,** _ **Warehouse 13**_ **belongs to SyFy (and whomever their parent company is), and** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic Books, and the Warner Brothers.**

XxXxXxX

A moderately tall, shaggy black haired, emerald eyed man sat on the patio of a café in three middle of downtown London watching as the cars and other modes of public transportation flowed through the streets in a harmonic yet controlled chaos that at times was mesmerizing to watch. The man of twenty-two years of age took a drink from his beer he had been nursing for the last hour or so absent-mindedly while thinking about going life, or how screwed up it really was.

His name is Harry James Potter, Lord of House Potter. His entire life was a roller coaster ride of which most people knew thanks to his 'celebrity' status as both the 'boy-who-lived' and the 'man-who-conquered' by the general Wizarding public. He had to publish his own autobiography to correct those that got his early life incorrect, such as the fictional 'Harry Potter and the…' series that he sued for libel and while these books were still popular with younger children he had them all recalled as part of the ruling and allowed them to be republished with the words 'a work of fiction' written in bold lettering on the front cover in plain view. While he had gotten quote the hefty payout from the suit and subsequent royalties, he donated the money towards St. Mungo's for new medical equipment that put them up to standards with the muggle world, to St. Orlaf's Orphanage for better living conditions for the children and better psychological council that would hopefully prevent another Voldemort from coming from a similar background, and to Hogwarts to not only update their curriculum so that the Muggle Studies class was up to date and continued to been updated as new technologies in the works were revealed but also to have a full-time professor of Wizarding Affairs that all first and second years would have to attend which would introduce them to different laws and policies that now applied to them and to their immediate family.

Harry really did love Hogwarts, it was a second home to him that he always felt welcome in, however, the Pureblood students were a pain because they knew the insides of the law and they didn't, not only that but all other Muggleborn children offending other Pureblood and Half-Blood houses and not knowing why. It was his dream to make the Wizarding World in Britain more inclusive rather than exclusive to newcomers. It was his love for the Wizarding World that caused him to apply for the Auror Academy so that he could protect people while actually getting paid to do it after all the bills don't pay themselves regardless of how much money he had in his vaults. Plus he sort of owed the Goblin Nation a shitton of money for repairs. But there was a reason why Harry was here on a patio outside a bar instead of being on the job or spending time with a woman.

The first was that he was on administrative leave pending the completion of an investigation into his most recent raid on a former Death Eater that had served a lighter sentence in Azkaban for ratting out his former associates. Things went to hell as the former DE wasn't alone that night, no he had a lady waiting on him of the paid variety from the Wizarding Red Light District commonly called 'Scant Alley' due to the scantily clad men and women selling themselves for whatever reasons they found justifiable. When they knocked down the door the woman, still naked, bolted and while a few of Harry's co-workers chased her down Harry chased the DE and tackled him down a flight of stairs which ended in the DE receiving a broken neck, killing him instantly. He was then called into the current DMLE head's office and was placed on leave due to the family that the former DE had once been the last of. While most of the politics in the Wizengamot were cleaner these days, favoritism towards older family lines still existed, just off the record. And so Harry went home early and planned to take a small vacation. And that's when he ran into his second reason for being at his current location, Ginny Weasley.

Say what you will about the Weasley clan, there was Fred and George who were marketing geniuses and created their own prank business that thrived with only a small investment of a thousand galleons from Harry himself; though only George was around these days due to Fred dying in the final battle with Voldemort's forces and the ragtag group Harry scavenged together. There was Percy, the rule abiding, stick-up-his-ass kiss ass who worked inside of the Ministry of Magic; Harry still held a slight grudge against him for sticking with the status quo, Voldemort's government, rather than standing against him. Charlie, the dragon tamer was one of the two people in the Weasley clan that Harry held massive amounts of respect for; after all the man worked with dragons and only a person with suicidal tendencies or someone with a real gift with animals would attempt that job. Then there was Bill, or William if you were to use his full first name, was a curse breaker for Gringotts along with his wife Fleur; he was the other members of the Weasley clan that he respected as it took great effort to actually break ancient curses that pharaohs of old had placed on their tombs. Ron was… well, there isn't much you could really say about him; he's loud, obnoxious, has little to no table manners, and is a bit of a closet pervert and chauvinist. Ron was also a fair-weather friend, this was on full display during the Triwizard Tournament years ago and extended to this day when Harry attempted to make allies with classmates that were in different houses, primarily Slytherins. The only true thing in common they had was Hermione, Ron's wife and Harry's surrogate sister and best friend.

Hermione, to Harry, is his lone ray of sunshine in a sea of pandering fanboys and fangirls that care little for him at all; they only wanted to get in his pants and his bank account. Hermione was always there for him and was only a ring away regardless if she was preoccupied with her toddler. Bluetooth is a modern miracle for multitaskers. Harry did often wonder if there was another world in which they did have feelings for each other that were more than just that of a brother and sister, after all at times their personalities completed each other.

Finally, there was the root of his second problem. Ginny Weasley. Now there were quite a few things that Harry could saw about Ginny both good and bad, such as her determination to follow through on a promise or willing to get down and dirty when she needed to. One bad thing that contrasted that good quality was her possessiveness of him. A prime example of both of these examples came out when she trained hardcore for six months for the quidditch tryouts for the Hollyhead Harpies, one of the few all-female teams in the world, and was scouted as a second string Chaser and would get game time whenever the starter got too tired during a match or was pulled out for whatever reason. Due to the time needed for her training to be 'up to snuff' with the rest of the team most of her time was spent with the team even though the two of them were going out at the time. Harry, at this time, had a heart to heart and discovered that playing quidditch professionally wasn't for him and decided to apply to the Auror Academy. While Ginny had been pursuing her dreams at being a quidditch superstar, Harry went to Hawaii to train at the American Auror Academy as the British Academy was being rebuilt from the ground up.

Why did he choose this Academy in this location in particular? To force himself to study and apply himself, plus the tropical weather was nice. He was going to be distracted by all the beautiful women on the beaches and the paradise that he was in that he would have to force himself not to give himself into temptation; but had he known what he knew now, he would have had the time of his life. But no, he was a 'good boy' and worked hard like he had promised himself like he would. He even met a woman his age named Nani in the Hawaiian magical district who was taking her younger sister out for shaved ice (1). They briefly talked while in line and hit it off conversationally, though Harry was dating Ginny this promising conversation was left at that, just a conversation between two strangers.

The American Auror Academy had a very interesting training regimen, as well as a partner system in which the two would train and study together and either both, would pass or fail, instilling teamwork in their Agents, as that's what they called their Aurors as that made them more discreet while in public among the 'no-majs' (2), and to depend on one another. Their training was also very interesting. The Americans focused on more offensive and direct magical attacks, not to say that they were more violent, but it was a precaution to teach them this in the case of another Voldemort coming along. There was a reason why America had very few Dark Lords roaming for very long, once discovered they were either arrested and thrown into a hole so deep and secretive it would be as if they never existed in the first place or they would be terminated with extreme prejudice by a Navy SEAL team only designated as SEAL Team 0. These men and women are only known to their peers and three other people: their commander, the current Director of Magical Affairs (sometimes called DiMA), and the current President. The other interesting thing about their training was the fact they supplemented their magic with nonmagical firearms which gave them a unique upper hand that very few magical governments around the world implemented into their law enforcement officers.

Back on topic, though, Harry was assigned to a woman a year older than him named Allison Church (3). She came from a no-maj family who were, like a good chunk of no-maj families who had wizards or witches in their family, very open minded. She was a Navy Brat, that being a child of a naval serviceman, and wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps but her psychological evaluation revealed that she most likely wouldn't do well in a combat situation. During the time they spent together, they became close friends joking about small inside jokes that only they knew. For example, both of them cracking up and bursting into hysterics at the sight of a jar of lightly salted, roasted peanuts; no one knew what the hell was so funny, but that was the beauty of it. By the time graduation rolled around the two of them were inseparable best friends.

Harry was given the option of inviting a few friends to witness his graduation and receiving a certificate that would be accepted back in England as a mark of completion of the Auror Academy. He immediately chose Hermione, to which Ron was also invited as they were engaged at the time. He also invited Teddy, his godson, and his guardian Andromeda Tonks. He finally invited Ginny as well as she had just finished what her team had called 'Boot Camp' and was available to attend. That's where Harry made his mistake.

The ceremony came and went without much fanfare, though tabloids from London tried to get in but were pushed away by the guards on duty for this reason alone, plus the Director of Magical Affairs was there both as a keynote speaker and one of the people the graduates were shaking hands with. After the ceremony, they walked out to the courtyard where graduates and their guests could converse for a while before heading their separate ways. That was when Allison hugged him in a 'we made it' kind of way. Now one thing to know about Allison was that she didn't show affection physically that often. However, when Ginny saw this one bit of physical affection that Allison showed towards Harry, her friend, and went absolutely ape-shiv on Allison attempting to hex her with various painful yet non-lethal hexes and curses. It took both Harry and Hermione holding her down to keep her from committing attempted murder, or at least assault and battery on an appointed officer of the law. It was that day that Harry first saw her jealousy and possessiveness of him. A warning sign that he brushed off as petty jealousy and misunderstanding.

Fast forward to three hours ago. Harry and Ginny shared their apartments with each other as they both had a key to each other's place. There were a couple of reasons for this. Ginny would occasionally spend the night with Harry at his place if and only if she wasn't doing anything with her new friends, her teammates. One of the other reasons she shared a place with him yet didn't live there was because of the location Harry chose. He chose an apartment in the city near the Ministry of Magic so he could walk to it comfortable year-round. Why didn't he use magic and just apparate or use the floo to commute to work each day? One of the tenants of the Academy he learned from was to never rely on magic as the end-all solution but as a tool to assist you. Plus it helped his cardio, so there was that. Ginny didn't like the fact that Harry had deliberately chosen to live in the muggle parts of London rather than the magical district, which was a development that hides inside of expansion and muggle repelling charms inside the alleyways of London that directly connected with the primary and secondary Alleys in London. Her magically expanded apartment overlooked Diagon Alley and Flourish and Botts.

Harry liked the mundane side of things. TVs, computers and computer games, movies, and comic books (at one point he wanted to make his adventures that he had as a child, over embellish them, and create a comic book for children that he could sell; although the Statute of Secrecy wouldn't allow that). Ginny didn't like that as he wasn't 'embracing his heritage as Lord Potter.' But to be honest, Harry didn't care. He was a simple kind of man in reality. The only thing he did to his apartment magically was expanding it so it was bigger inside. He did have a mild case of claustrophobia thanks to his childhood and the broom closet. Funny thing about magic, it didn't affect technology unless it was directed at technology. For example, you could perform all the magic you wanted in the room with a supercomputer and it would do nothing to the supercomputer, but if you tried to overload the computer with magic you would fry it. Another reason Harry liked this apartment? The Wizarding press and tabloids didn't know where it was. Had to be been inside of Diagon or any of the other magical residency districts he would have been hounded for information about his personal life like movie stars that live in Hollywood are by TMZ and other tabloids.

He had returned home and discovered that Ginny wasn't there waiting for him. Tonight was Wednesday, which was date night. When they first started going out shortly after Harry had gone back to Hogwarts to complete his magical education, see taking his NEWTs, he and Ginny were inseparable. When Harry moved into his new apartment, the one that he was currently in, Ginny decided to 'break' the moral constraints that her mother pressed upon her and decided to have sex with Harry that night so that they could 'give each other their virginities'. Her mother was a prude when it came to sexuality regardless of the fact that she had seven children, pressing on both Harry and Ginny that they needed to wait until marriage to have sex. Funny thing about teens that have raging hormones that take control in the presence of the opposite sex? They don't tend to listen. Ginny was always the one to break the ice, she always initiated the 'next step' in their relationship. Their first kiss, their first heavy petting, her placing Harry's hand under her shirt and bra and pretty much forcing him to grope her, her giving him his first handjob and blowjob after stripping in front of him, and then finally sex in his apartment. It was a gradual process, often times taking place under her mother's nose. Sure, it was all consensual, but Harry always felt like it was going too fast. The one time that Harry did bring this up to Ginny she just told him to stop 'being a prude like my mother'. After they did start sleeping with each other they tried to meet up weekly where they would go on a date that would end in sweaty sex usually at Harry's place; usually when Harry worked late Ginny was waiting for him at his apartment, ready to either have a night in or ready to go out on a date.

Figuring that maybe Ginny was preoccupied with something or another at her place, Harry apparated inside of the Alley and made his way up to her apartment on the fifth floor of the magical complex. He stopped at the door and started unlocking the door quietly to surprise his girlfriend who was probably knee deep in some kind mind consuming activity like reading. When he opened the well-oiled door he noticed that the lights were on and that there were two sets of shoes by the door sort of strewn about haphazardly. The first were a set of women's trainers, which were obviously Ginny's, but the second set was a man's which were about Harry's size by sight alone, but he didn't recognize them at all as they were a pair that he wouldn't have been caught in. Everything that Harry wore was functional for the situation he needed it for. He had four pairs of shoes: a pair of flip-flops for the beach, a pair of combat boots for work, a pair of dress shoes for either formal events or for dressing up for a special occasion, and a pair of trainers that he would use to run or go to the gym in. He walked further down the hall and as he did he found a trail of clothing, both men's and women's alike that finally ended at the door with a pair of boxers, a pair of panties, and a bra lying at the door of Ginny's room.

'Perhaps this is some kind of joke or prank?' Harry thought hopefully. 'Maybe George stopped by with his current girlfriend and is trying to make it look like he's knocking boots with Lavender in Ginny's bed just to mess with her.'

He slowly opened the door and dropped the bouquet of roses that he brought with him in shock, which fell to the floor almost silently. In the crack that he had opened the door, he saw a twenty-three-year-old woman with long red hair and athletic curves riding some man moaning and mewling in pleasure. As she leaned back to show her face for but a moment Harry saw it was indeed Ginny. Her shapely taught rear and modestly large bust bouncing as she impaled herself on her current lover. "Oh, yes. Fuck me!" she moaned out. "Make me cum like Harry's never made me before!"

Hearing this made Harry's heart sink. Ginny was cheating on him with some bloke that he might have met before or might not of. Filling with righteous anger he kicked the door in, still wearing his military boots, and the door flew inward with a loud crash that caused Ginny to leap off of her lover and land on the side of the bed in shock. "Ginny, you little slut!" Harry yelled out, his emerald green eyes glowing in anger.

She looked up from the side of her bed and saw her boyfriend. "Harry?" she asked dumbly, not entirely processing the situation in front of her. The man on the bed tried to cover himself with the comforter that had been thrown aside. Finally, Ginny did realize that her boyfriend was in the room. "What are you doing here?" she yelled in return, tearing away the comforter that the man was using to cover himself up to cover her breasts and bits, regardless of the fact that Harry had seen her naked numerous times before this.

"What are you doing with HIM!?" Harry redirected.

She didn't answer for a split second and sputtered out, "He raped me!" while pointing at the man.

"I would have believed that if I hadn't both seen that you were in complete control and didn't hear that you wanted him to make you cum like I never have!" Harry shouted back, using her own words and actions against her. "Why!?" She sputtered nonsense as she tried to search for the words. "My God, really? You don't even have a reason?" Harry ranted on. "How long as this been going on?" Harry pressed. His magic leaking out, putting the fear of Wizarding God (4) into the cheating duo.

"Months," Ginny meeped.

"Months!?" Harry yelled. That would certainly explain why Ginny had been so distant lately. Every time they were together after they started sleeping together she was more than anxious to jump his bones, but as of recent she had been more 'limp' in bed, not participating at all and pretty much laying back as if going through the motions rather than participating actively. Hell, there were even a few times where she fell asleep in the middle of sex for no reason, or at least that was until Harry knew why now. "That's it! We're done!" Harry shouted, stomping angrily towards the door.

"Harry, wait!" Ginny cried out, carrying the comforter to cover herself.

Harry stopped at her door and pushed her back with a 'gentle' banishment spell, the equivalent of a push really. "You can pick up your stuff from my place tomorrow," Harry said while looking at her with disgust and anger. He then pointed his wand towards her bedroom and incanted, " _Accio_ Harry's Apartment Key." Not even a millisecond passed before a key sped from Ginny's room, through the wall, and landed in Harry's hand. He then reached into his own pocket and drew Ginny's apartment key and dropped it right in front of her before pocketing his spare. He then turned his back to Ginny despite her apologizing to him and closed the door right in front of her face.

After that Harry went to this bar near enough to his apartment that it wasn't too far to walk, especially since he planned on getting pretty smashed, but was far enough away that if Ginny actually did start to look for him she wouldn't find him. She wasn't the most direction savvy when it came to muggle London.

Harry was enjoying his bottled lager, leaning against the railing next to the table he was seated at when he noticed a woman, maybe a little older than he was, wearing some kind of leather-based suit entering the ritzier apartment complex across the street. He debated on going after her but in muggle London, he had no law authority. However, that didn't mean he wasn't curious as to what she was up to. He placed a few Pounds on the table to pay off his tab and followed her inside.

XxXxXxX

Jade Chan was one of those unique children that have quite an interesting childhood. What did her childhood consist of? Fighting demons and finding magical artifacts with her Uncle Jackie, Tohru, and Uncle. And no, over thirteen years later she still didn't know what his name really was or if he was Uncle Jackie's Uncle or was similar to who Jade was related to Jackie by extended family. She stopped asking after the fiftieth time that she did ask. All she got was an 'ay-ya!' before she was swatted on the head for carelessly handling a borderline priceless artifact that Uncle was trying to sell.

Her adventures into strangeness had started when she was twelve and moved into Jackie's house in San Francisco after her parents had handed her off to her Uncle Jackie to hopefully help her learn some kind of discipline that he had developed over the years while performing various martial arts. Her parents, and now her when she looked back on it saw her as impulsive and reckless, getting herself into all kinds of trouble with kids at school that were involved with a few local gangs. It wasn't like that old show "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" or anything like that, they were on the lower end of the food chain, but her parents were worried if these kids that were in with the underlings were to get a 'promotion' in the gang that they'd go after Jade for whatever slight she made against them and would hurt her one way or the other. That was when she was put on the first plane to San Francisco to meet her Uncle Jackie.

It was shortly after that when she was introduced to magic thanks to Uncle and the Talismans of Shendu and the secret organization called Section 13 and their leader Captain Black. Those were some really crazy times, especially when Shendu reclaimed all of his Talismans and returned to full power, only for Jackie, with the help of Jade, Tohru, and Uncle, we're able to take him down once more, but only for a time. Then there were the Puzzle Box incidents where Jackie, with Jade, Tohru, and Uncle in tow, would travel all around the world to prevent a Shendu possessed Valmont from unlocking and unleashing eight other demons, Shendu's brothers and sisters, via extradimensional demon door portals. But Shendu wasn't done yet, there was the whole fiasco surrounding the Book of Ages. The book, in and of itself was harmless. It recorded all major events throughout history that changed everything to what we know of it today, all automatically using some sort of very ancient magic. There was one huge caveat, however, the book worked both ways. You could rewrite history and the book would then impose those changes upon the reality that was written into existence with the inhabitants of said reality believing everything was as it was and that nothing had truly changed. Only the one who made the change would know that it happened. Jade experienced this first hand when Shendu had attempted to change history so that his brethren were not banished some void by a section of warriors and magicians; she ripped a page away before Shendu had finished his 'update' on history and was able to preserve her memories, therefore, allowing her to find and recruit the J-Team once more to defeat the demons once and for all.

Last time she checked the Book was under heavy guard but disappeared a few years ago, same with the Demon Puzzle Box. They had not resurfaced on the black market nor had Section 13 really looked for them, which she saw as suspicious. About a month after they had gone missing an African-American woman appeared at Section 13 named Mrs. Fredricks, no first name. She merely mentioned some kind of board of Regents and Black backed off. The initial question by many was 'who was this woman?' When Jade did ask Black he told her to forget about it and that she was a 'family'. That had happened when she was thirteen going on fourteen in a few months.

After seeing her future self and that said future self was, in fact, a member of Section 13 she got her Uncle Jackie to really ramp up her martial arts training so she could kick ass and take names as well as become a kick ass agent. She graduated from high school in San Francisco instead of going back home to her parents in Hong Kong. Captain Black had made sure to have her Green Card on permanent renewal until she either chose to become a US citizen or move back home permanently. Being a part of a secret government organization came with its perks. Halfway through her program in college Black approached and recruited her. From the day she turned nineteen she became a moonlighting recovery agent while attempting to have a normal social life with friends that didn't know about magic or crazy adventures. While going on them was fun, she learned from her Uncle that you shouldn't let your work consume your entire life and making time for more normal things helps balance it all out in the end.

The year she joined was the year that Uncle Jackie officially retired his archaeology field work as Uncle was getting old to the point where he was focusing more on training Tohru as his magical apprentice rather than running his antique shop. Don't get her wrong, it wasn't like Uncle was going to keel over within the next few months. He was getting old and that was a fact of life. People are born and people die. It was one of the two things she learned from a copy of Game of Thrones that another agent had left on one of the company planes, that 'all men must die'. That and sexposition, exposition through the use of sex; that was something that Jade found interesting from a literary standpoint. That and in some sex scenes Martin got a little _too_ descriptive at times. But back on topic. Uncle was getting old and regardless of what everyone thought, he was not Superman. He was getting old and he knew it. He would never give up without a fight, as he was as stubborn as an ox, which those that knew the Chan family well enough, both in America and Hong Kong, joked that it was a Chan family trait. Uncle didn't want to become a burden on whatever adventure that Jackie and Jade would eventually find themselves on once more that would require Uncle's signature magic knowledge and spells to counteract whatever oddity wanted to take over/destroy the world.

Uncle didn't officially hang up his 'adventuring shoes' until Tohru finished his magical training. Magic, to Jade, was always this strange concept. The more she tried to understand it, the less sense it made. She had countless discussions with Tohru about magic and she got the same response that she got from Uncle being that 'magic must defeat magic'. It was something that she never understood, but respected as she did use Uncle's magic remedies that always worked against magic-based enemies.

Uncle Jackie also hung up his adventuring hat as well. He was still a consultant for Section 13 when it came to odd objects and artifacts of unknown origin, he just didn't go out into mysterious temples or anything anymore. A while back he did a university tour where he did keynote speeches about archaeology, both on ancient civilizations and architecture. Even though Jade was slightly disappointed that her Uncle gave up the adventuring lifestyle, he seemed happy with what he was doing so that made it alright with her, although she wished she was still adventuring with her Uncle. She's even seen Jackie and the former thief Viper together a few times at both the University and the antique shop. While Jade didn't want to make any assumptions, it was muddled whether the two were seeing each other; although, they did have a game where Viper would steal something from the shop under Jackie's nose and Jackie would then go and retrieve it. Then there was the flirtatious banter that Viper used around Jackie. Jade was still sure she was just reading too much into things, she was sure of it.

But the more appropriate question of the moment was why was Jade in London and why was she breaking into an apartment complex that was more like condos than apartments? Well she was on the trail of an anonymous thief that had managed to steal priceless artifacts from a safe house location that Section 13 was using near Dublin until arrangements could be made to transport said artifact back to base where it could be studied more closely to ensure it wasn't another cursed item that could cause all kinds of mayhem and misery. After all, this object came from ancient druid's grave if what the translation her uncle had done was completely accurate, and druids were known for their ancient rituals and magics. The person responsible used a Guy Fawkes mask and was able to appear a blend disappear at will. After extensive examination by a few sensory techniques taught to her by Tohru, the man wasn't using magic, but something else entirely. She popped the lock with a set of lock picks that she kept on her person. There were a few skills that she learned from Viper like lockpicking, stealth, and how to identify and deactivate different kinds of traps and alarms. Viper may have been a 'bad influence' according to her uncle, but you couldn't deny her skill in the arts she specialized in and how they'd helped Jade during her time as a member of Section 13. Why this building? While they had no idea who the perpetrator was, they managed to pull a sting operation using the Sheep talisman as bait as it was the most innocuous of the Talismans that would be easily covered up rather than, say, the pig, horse, or dog talismans. Tohru, with the oversight of Uncle, placed a beacon spell that, when triggered, would display the location of the thief.

The talisman was then put on display at a local charity event and the thief took the bait. They waited a full day before they gave Jade the go-ahead to investigate the thief so that proper charges could be filed. Jade was overnighted a compass attuned to the specific 'magical frequency' that the tracer on the talisman was attuned to. The compass had led her here from Heathrow. She was glad that she didn't have to walk the entire way here, but only a few city blocks. The lock security was as expected of a nicer apartment, but was still easy to pick. She popped the lock and walked inside, but before the door closed she felt as though she was being watched. Jade turned around to see a decently tall, messily black haired man with odd, seemingly glowing emerald eyes just looking towards her general direction while taking a drink from his bottle of some kind of booze. Seeing that he was gazing towards her, she walked casually up the stairs as if she belonged there in the first place.

She slipped the compass out of her pocket and waited for it to stop spinning. It pointed towards the right wing of the complex and pulled upwards. 'So it's up a few floors?' Jade thought. She started trekking up the stairs, not realizing that she was being followed.

XxXxXxX

Harry followed the Chinese woman just close enough that he was far enough away that he would see her turn a corner and still not lose her and not need magic to 'pick up the scent'. The Auror training he went through held an immense amount of emphasis on being able to follow a quarry without being spotted. As they were forced to follow both no-majs and wizards alike, you could use magic to cast a disillusionment charm in case they thought they were being followed. Wizards, on the other hand, were a different beast to tail. Those that were empaths, or sensors in other places in the world, can sense when magic is being used nearby and will, therefore, become warier. A similar thing that no-majs can emulate if they're observant enough to notice the very subtle outlines of light that the disillusionment charm created when bending light around the casted object or person. And so far the woman had yet to notice Harry tailing her, though he had a feeling that she was being watched.

The woman went up several flights of stairs before arriving in the penthouse suites, a set of four large condos that sat at the top of the complex. How did Harry know? Well at one point in the past he was instructed by his higher ups to retrieve a very dangerous Dark Object that had found its way into the possession of a muggle in a complex across the street. Plus, it wasn't hard to see considering that the condos at the top of the building are much larger than their neighbors below them.

Harry watched as the woman started to pick the lock of one of the condos, and quite swiftly if he were to comment on and compliment the thievery. The lock popped open and the woman went inside the penthouse and closed the door behind her. Before it could latch shut again, Harry shot a spell at the lock which froze the lock in its place allowing it to still be opened from the outside without having to repick the lock. Harry gave the woman a thirty-second head start before he too went in after her into the apartment.

XxXxXxX

Jade entered the apartment penthouse and marveled at the sheer amount of wealth the owner of this penthouse had. On one wall were several katanas from the Edo period that are usually illegal for anyone to own outside of family heirlooms as they're considered national treasures; due to their priceless nature, they'd be worth millions if the Japanese got wind and tried to make an offer to whoever owned this property. Jade knew that there was a man in Vegas who owns a family-run pawn shop and has a similar katana in his possession, but he purchased it from a man whose family member fought in the Second World War in the Pacific theater and brought it back home as a spoil of war. On another wall were a plethora of mounted African tribal masks. Next to that was an Inuit totem pole that was exquisitely and intricately carved with an attention to detail that would rival many famous and talented sculptors. On other walls, there were innumerable valuable paintings that were thought to be lost by artists that were long dead.

'Whoever this guy is, he gets around,' Jade thought to herself. She wandered in further, keeping her eyes open for any assailants, primarily the person that lived in this house. The funny thing? She didn't even know who the person was who owned it. Normally, when thieves robbed artifacts and they were discovered, see Viper or the Origami Thief, their identities were known to Section 13 before the artifact they were using was removed from their possession and the thief was turned over to the local authorities. This guy who owned this place had a face, but no one knew who it was. If his home décor, that being very expensive looking, was anything to go by then this guy was very rich. 'How does someone this rich literally go under the radar?' Meanwhile, a cloaked Harry was reaching for the doorknob and sneezed.

Jade looked towards the center of what looked like a den and saw the Guy Fawkes mask in the center inside of a glass display box, giving it that 'museum' feel to it. Another question entered Jade's mind, 'Why was this mask so important? It looks no different than those you can pick up at any Halloween store.'

Harry walked into the same apartment and let the door closed silently behind him. Still invisible, he followed the woman into the same den and saw the same mask she saw and Harry's impression of it was different than Jade's was. Harry was getting an unsettling vibe from it as if it were alive or something. At the second time, he felt as though it was calling out to him to wear it, for whatever reason. He resisted the compulsion, but that most likely had to do with his unnatural, natural resistance to both the Imperious curse and Veela Allure. However, the woman didn't stop like he did and slowly wandered towards it, almost entranced, if not curious.

Jade slowly reached for the mask but was stopped by a hand grabbing her wrist, however, she couldn't see who grabbed her. It was like a ghost as she saw nothing but felt it grabbing her. She quickly broke the hold and rounded on this so-called ghost. What happened next shocked her.

Harry landed with an unceremonious thud on the wooden floor. He was shocked at the amount of strength was in that kick, and had managed to hit him square in the chest while he was invisible, which either meant she had experience with magic before or was extremely observant of her surroundings.

"Who's there?" she called out, taking a fighting stance.

Harry rubbed the back of his now throbbing head, the drinking from before definitely wasn't helping, even if he was still able to both stand and think relatively clearly. "Bloody hell, is that the way you thank someone who stopped you from touching a cursed object?" Harry muttered loud enough to hear.

"Show yourself," she demanded. Her right foot easing towards Harry's crotch.

'Definitely observant then,' he mentally commented. After all, he had no desire to be kicked in the bits both metaphorically and physically in the same day. "Hold your tits and give me a moment," he replied. Harry snapped his fingers and executed one of the five spells he knew how to perform without a wand or verbal incantation. The levitation charm, the summoning charm, the banishing hex, the stunner, in the spell of universal cancellation. The latter of which who's incantation was, in fact, _Finite Incantum_. The invisibility charm always felt like an egg breaking over your head, and experience that Harry had first hand when Dudley got angry during his 'brat' phase of his life when Harry cooked a dissatisfactory breakfast for him, luckily Dudley was a much better human being now, the same could be said about removing it except in reverse. As his former returned to the visible spectrum, he held his hands up in a nonthreatening manner.

What Jade saw was where a void of where someone was, a man with shaggy black hair, green eyes, and a generally attractive looking face appeared in its place while holding his hands up. He was wearing a brown trench coat with an AC/DC shirt underneath, a pair of acid washed jeans and a pair of tennis shoes. The first thing she thought of was that he had the Snake talisman, which was impossible considering that Section 13 still had in the vault, in fact, she saw it before she left. "Who are you and what are doing here? Is this your house?" Jade interrogated, ready to punch him again if he tried something funny.

"Hell no, I wouldn't be caught decorating my place this narcissistically garish," Harry replied. "And my name is Harry Potter and I'm a police officer."

"Then where's your badge?" Jade asked.

"Ok, technically I'm on administrative leave, but I'm still a cop." He was technically an Auror, a magical officer of the law, to which he wasn't lying. Maybe stretching the truth, but not lying entirely.

"Why'd you stop me from grabbing that?"

Harry got up slowly, keeping his hands close to his side as to not present a threat. "That mask is giving off some bad vibes, lady. I've seen this kind of stuff before, it never ends up well."

"You've seen this kind of stuff before?"

"No, not at all," Harry replied all too quickly. 'Shit, I slipped up.'

"You're lying. Tell me what you know or I'll pummel you," she threatened with a raised fist.

"Now, now. There will be no need for that," a voice said coming from behind them.

'Well, that's a welcome distraction,' Harry thought. Harry turned around to see something that just confused him and freaked him out all at the same time. The first thing that Harry could say about this man was that he was a snappy dresser, after all, he wore expensive clothing, something that he had first-hand experience with as well thanks to many of Ginny's shopping sprees with her Quidditch paychecks. The man was dressed in a black silk suit, 'Armani most likely,' Harry commented. But what disturbed him was the man's face. Or, the lack of a face.

When 'lack of a face' runs through the mind, one might think that the man literally doesn't have a face. Like somewhat akin to _Assassin's Creed: Unity_ levels of facelessness or being headless like the Headless Horseman, but as in the man had no recognizable features that would allow another to pick him out in a crowd. Harry, being a trained officer in the law, trained in both mundane and magical investigation and interrogation knew how to create a suspect profile based on appearance. For example, 'blue eyes, blonde hair, dimples, tanned skin, caucasian, button-like nose, heart-shaped face, woman.' This man, on the other hand, had nothing that made him stand out. In spite of logic, the man also seemed to be blurry. Ok, more blurry than he probably was considering that Harry was pretty drunk still. Even seeing past his drunkenness Harry could see something was wrong with his face. When he looked at it, it seems as though the face had something like a hybridization of a Notice-Me-Not and a Fidelius charm on his face, both containing whatever identity he had as well as making him able to slip in a crowd without anyone realizing he was even there. While Harry tried to theorize how this would be physically possible for someone to attempt without someone in the Ministry finding out and containing such a breach of the Statute of Secrecy, Jade was also theorizing how this was possible, also thinking about magic, but of a different kind than what Harry was thinking of.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" the man asked as he approached Jade and Harry, his shoes echoing on the wooden floor. "A thief perhaps, but why would you want to break into my home of all places?" he asked as he looked at Jade. Then he looked at Harry and his eyes, regardless of the fact that Harry couldn't tell you what his eyes looked like from both a shape and color perspective, widened, "And Harry Potter, disgraced Auror, former Boy-Who-Lived."

"I thought you said you were a cop?" Jade asked Harry, irked that the man next to her lied.

"Well, technically I am," Harry replied. Harry then turned his attention to the unknown man, "A better question is, who are you?"

The man chuckled, "Oh Harry, don't you recognize me?" When Harry only replied a blank look the man continued, "Oh, I wouldn't think so either. After all, that mask over there is both a gift and a curse."

Harry then turned to Jade, "Told you."

"Oh, but it wasn't enough that you had to track me down-."

"Technically, I followed her," Harry pointed to Jade.

The mystery man then turned to Jade, "So what brought you here?" Harry could then feel what felt like a compulsion charm ripple in the air, after all, he had to learn what different spells felt like when they were cast.

"To hunt down the one that stole priceless artifacts from around the globe and to arrest the one responsible," Jade blurted out. She quickly covered her mouth as if to recall the words she just said when she wanted to say, 'None of your business.'

"Oh, so I have a thief and two trespassers, one of whom doesn't have a search warrant." A wand slowly appeared in the man's hand from his sleeve. "I think I should dispose of you now, no one will miss the two of you anyway." He then pointed the wand towards Jade and started to incant, " _Avad-_." However, Harry threw a wandless summoning charm on an expensive looking vase that was behind the man so it crashed into the back of the man's head.

The vase shattered into a million pieces upon collision. The apparent wizard staggered and lost his concentration on Jade, something that she took advantage of and closed the distance quickly. Just as the wizard was about to recover, Jade slammed her foot into the man's stomach, causing him to double over before chopping him in the back of the head, knocking him out cold.

Harry then approached the man's discarded wand and snapped it with extreme ease. The wand sputtered a few sparks at the break as the magic that was within it left, leaving the wand little more than kindling. Harry stood up as he looked at the downed wizard. "Well, that was a thing," he commented.

Jade returned to her senses, now realizing what the man next to her had done. "How did you-?" she asked but was cut off.

"Sorry, government secrets and all that. Don't be blabbing it around to anyone." Now normally Harry would have Obliviated her himself, but he was too drunk to really incant it without totally scrambling her brains by accident, therefore killing her if not damaging her mentally for life akin to what happened to Lockhart. Harry then approached the mask once more and stood a few paces away. "Now what to do with you..." he trailed.

The door to the penthouse then opened to reveal a man and a woman, both looked to be in their mid to late forties at the latest. Both had brown hair and wore what looked like 'g-men' suits. Harry, again, had first-hand experience on what they looked like thanks to being taught in the American Auror Academy. "Excuse us, we-" the man started before stopping, looking around the room seeing that there were three people other than them in it, one of which was knocked clean out. "Ok then." Harry immediately noticed the man's American accent.

"Who're you?" Harry asked, something that Jade echoed through body language.

"Umm..."

"Interpol, we've come to arrest that man," the woman covered for her male counterpart, her accent also revealed her to be American. She then cuffed the wizard even though he was knocked out.

The man, on the other hand, approached Harry while putting on purple gloves followed by pulling out what looked like a metallic bag of sorts. He took a glance at Harry's shirt and commented, "Nice shirt."

"Thanks," Harry replied cordially. The man then reached into the case and grabbed the Guy Fawkes mask before dropping it into the bag, which sparked like a live outlet, which caused both Harry and Jade's attention to be drawn towards it. "It supposed to do that?"

"Yeah, static buildup and all that," he replied.

"Whatever," Harry said, mostly not caring. He started to walk towards the door but noticed a familiar face form on the faceless wizard's face. "Bloody hell," he sighed.

"You know this guy?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, Vincent Crabbe. We thought we went off the grid ages ago. He hasn't been seen for years."

"Who's 'we'?"

Harry quickly came up with a lie that was mostly true, "Local police."

Harry started to walk away before the woman called out, "Don't you want to take him in?"

"I'm off duty and I'm going home, fuck it all," Harry replied carelessly, waving them off as he left the building.

When the two Americans had their backs turned Jade slipped out after grabbing the talisman that she had tagged.

As these two left, neither knew that they were being watched by another woman in the shadows.

XxXxXxX

 _The next morning. 10am._

Harry loved waking up on late mornings for multiple reasons. One of which allowed him to wake up more naturally, you know, not being forced to wake up from an alarm clock. The second of which was being woken up in that extra special way that Ginny always did, well before she became a Quidditch superstar and all that. The third reason was for what he was feeling right now: a hangover.

Harry groaned as he forced himself to try and wake up. Trying to hit a nonexistent alarm clock that was buzzing him awake. Not wanting to search for it blindly, he summoned it to his hand and pressed the 'snooze' button. The buzzing stopped and he dropped the clock on the floor, not caring where it landed. Minutes later his phone started to ring and he tried to ignore it. But try as he might, it just got louder and more annoying every ring cycle it went through. He forced himself to get up and did a mental checklist. 'A piercing headache? Check. Dry and sore throat? Check. Feeling sick to my stomach? Also, check. Yep, I have a hangover.'

He groggy sat up and walked into the bathroom, rubbing the sandman out of the corners of his eyes as he went. He opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a concoction of his own making: a Pepper-UP potion mixed with Tylenol whose precipitate was pressed into pill form. While it wasn't a hangover cure, as even wizards had yet to develop such a thing, but if they did they could sell it to both wizards and muggles alike and would make a killing in sales. He downed his own 'cure' and walked towards his kitchen. Still groggy, as the pill had yet to kick in as there was a minute or two delay, he realized that bacon was cooking on his stove. 'I didn't bring anyone home last night, did I?' he asked himself.

He peered into the kitchen and saw a largely built, black suited man cooking bacon at his stove. Harry drew his wand and kept it close to his side, keeping a low profile, he approached the man cooking and started to point his wand at him. However, before he could even cast a single spell a voice called out to him from his living room, "That will be unnecessary, Mr. Potter."

Harry turned towards his living room and saw a woman no older than he was sitting on his couch drinking coffee from the Schrödinger's Cat mug he got from Hermione two years ago for his birthday. She had dark red hair and while she wore a conservative, sleeveless dress, Harry could tell just by her eyes alone she was of the punkish nature that Nym Tonks once was like, we'll before she and Moony died, that is. The eyes were the gateway to the soul, and what Harry could see without actually delving into her mind was that this woman was smarter than she looked and carried a heavy burden that only she would be able to carry. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" Harry questioned.

She set his mug down on a coaster on his coffee table. "My apologies, I seem to have you at the disadvantage. My name is Claudia Donovan and that over there is Agent Jinks." Harry turned to look at the man and noted that his head was shaved and looked unnaturally young. "Come, sit. Have some breakfast, after all, you should make decisions on a full stomach." Harry sat down in his recliner, mostly out of curiosity, mainly because only he had the keys to his house. He didn't even have a spare since he learned a trick that would unlock the front door with his magic signature as a key. Her bodyguard placed on a plate in front of him that consisted mainly of bacon.

"You didn't answer my question. Why are you two Yanks doing in my apartment?" Harry asked before biting off a chunk of the strip of bacon he picked up.

"I've come to offer you a job."

"Oh?"

"We know that you've been suspended from being a wizard cop, and before you ask how I know, I just do. I also know that they intend to fire you for killing a Pureblood wizard regardless of the fact that he was fleeing from an officer and resisting arrest. I also know that due to a recent break-up you have no official ties to this part of the world."

"So you've been ruining my life, is that it?" Harry accused his 'guest'.

Claudia just laughed and looked at her bodyguard. "He's funny, isn't he Jinksy?"

"Absolutely," Jinks replied.

"I represent an organization that's more behind the scenes than what the wizards of the world believe they are. The Regents have had their eyes on you for a while, but haven't needed a reason to approach you, until last night that is."

"What do you mean they've had their eyes on me?"

"Well, the regents would certainly pay attention to a person that wanted to take over the world. They do thank you for dealing with him before they were forced to intervene."

Harry looked at her with a skeptical eye. "And why would you want me to take a job when you haven't even told me anything about it yet?"

"You have skills that we haven't had on our payroll for years. I can confirm that you will be well compensated for the tenure of your employment." She then stood up and Agents Jinks walked towards her. "If, in fact, you are interested, go to these coordinates on this card in three days. I will know if you are serious about the job if you're there." She opened the door and stopped to look at Harry once more, "I do promise you this, if you do come a world of endless wonder awaits you."

Harry looked down and saw a business card sitting in front of the place that the agent had set down in front of him. 'That definitely was not there before. Where did it come from?' he thought as the door closed behind the enigma Harry now knew as Claudia Donovan.

Harry picked up the business card and looked at it closely. It was your average, run of the mill thick stocked card. The only thing on it was a set of GPS coordinates. He flicked it through his fingers as if it were a coin. "Endless wonder, huh?" Harry pondered.

XxXxXxX

 _Twelve hours later, San Francisco._

Jade Chan took the first flight in from London, technically it was a flight provided by Section 13, but the first thing that she did was ride back to base on her customized motorcycle, a hobby that she picked up that she found to be relaxing in her time off of work. As Captain Black was out of the office until the morning, Jade crashed in her office on her couch after returning her borrowed talisman.

When she woke up the next morning she was summoned to Black's office to give her report. She approached his office but stopped when she saw a smartly dressed red headed woman in his office sitting at his desk while he stood next to her at the side of his desk. Outside of his office was a man that was probably ten years older than Jade dressed in what Jade and many others dubbed 'g-man' attire. The black suit, black tie, black pleated pants, black shined shoes, and a white collared shirt. Before she could say anything, the man looked at her and said, "They're waiting for you inside."

"Uh, thanks," Jade replied with caution as she had no idea who this was.

She entered the office and Captain Black was finishing up a conversation with the woman. "Thanks for bringing him to my attention. If he does accept your offer, please let me know so I can call and touch base," Black said to her. He then noticed Jade. "Please have a seat," he gestured to the two seats that were always in front of his desk.

"Cap? What's going on? I thought I was going to give you my report from the sting operation?" Jade asked.

"You were, but something a little more clandestine has come up. Miss Donovan here wishes to have a word with you. Unfortunately, since this is way above my pay grade I will wait outside until you are done." Black then turned to Ms. Donovan. "Ma'am," he said before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

"So I heard about your adventures over the years," Ms. Donovan said as she opened a folder with Section 13 branding on it. "You've dealt with quite a few possible world ending events." She then flipped a few papers containing reports and case photos in front of Jade one by one as she mentioned the events that Jade did participate in over the years. "Obtaining the Talismans of Shendu, three times. Fighting and defeating Chi Demons even after they attempted to rewrite history with an Artifact known as the Book of Ages. The defeat of an evil Chi Wizard intending on attempting to rule the world both through the talismans and Oni masks. Said defeat of Tarakudo and his Oni generals. And to top the largest of them all off, stopping a megalomaniac son of one of your enemies named Drago, son of the Demon Sorcerer Shendu. You have quite a track record of success."

Jade was surprised that this woman had access to her files, but was also able to kick Captain Black out of his office, something that no one had accomplished before. "You flatter me, but what does this have to do with me anyway?"

Ms. Donovan leaned in, folding her hands on top of the desk. "You see, I represent a group of people who wish for objects, such as those that you've encountered over the years, to be held somewhere to be kept out of the hands of those that would willingly wish for harm to come to others for their own personal, selfish gains. I cannot tell you any more, however, should you choose to accept my offer you will be given an invitation to endless wonder."

XxXxXxX

 _Three days later. "Middle of Nowhere", SD._

Harry rolled up to what was a large building built into the side of a mountain in the middle of the nowhere in South Dakota in a rental SUV. No, literally. It was the middle of nowhere. Harry had decided to see what this "endless wonder" was, after all, he was a wizard who lived and breathed magic daily. He had portkeyed directly to New York City and went through customs with an odd quickness he had never seen before, it was though he were expected. He took a connecting portkey to Sioux Falls where he rented an SUV and drove the rest of the way that had a GPS installed.

He left his apartment in London, only bringing what he needed for a long trip. After all, getting away from London and Ginny would be a good thing for a while. He also packed up any of Ginny's things and had them stored in a shrunken trunk and had it owled to her from Diagon Alley the day he left. He also changed his personalized security system so that she couldn't break in nor mess with his things. He waited for an hour before a female drove up on a bike wearing road leathers.

She took off her helmet and their eyes met. Now, instead of a cliché romance moment where they would instantly fall in love with each other, they instantly recognized each other and pointed to one another shouting in unison, and in stereo, "YOU!"

"What are you doing here?" Jade asked as she approached the 'mystery man.'

"I could ask you the same thing," Harry replied. "You look even hotter now that I'm not drunk as all hell," he snarked. If anything to see if he could get a reaction out of her.

"So you thought I was ugly?!"

Before Harry could reply he could hear a whistling sound approach and ducked just in time for a football, the American kind, to just miss his head by mere inches which then slammed into the side of the metal warehouse building. "Ah! There you are!" a man said as he came seemingly out of nowhere and walked past the two, to which they looked at him in confusion. He then leaned down, carrying a glowing techno-staff of some kind, sensor equipment if either were to guess, and opened the football to reveal a small screen. He pressed a few buttons inside of it before closing it. "How's your throwing arm?" he asked Harry.

"Pretty decent," Harry replied.

He soft tossed the ball to Harry. "Would you be so kind as to throw it in that direction?" he gestured in the opposite direction of the warehouse. Harry shrugged and gave it a good throw, to which it not only sped off much faster than he expected but much farther as it flew into the sky and out of sight. "Good! Now that that's all out of the way, please come inside. We have much to discuss." Harry started to follow the mystery man, but Jade stayed behind. "I've got milk and cookies," he goaded Jade. After mentally debating for a moment she relented and followed as well.

They walked down several flights of stairs before entering a tube-like tunnel that had clear, glass sections of reinforcement. The big thing that stood out was the word 'WARNING' in all caps and in red. "Try not to mess with the explosives, while they aren't as sensitive as when they were composed of TNT, I'd rather not jar them," the man said out of the blue and both Harry and Jade recoiled away from them. One short walk later and they arrived inside an office. The man placed his metal detector thing away and introduced himself, "Hello, my name is Arthur but you can call me Arty if you want. Before I can explain this job further, I need you to sign these." He then pulled out two stacks of paper and placed them in front of both Harry and Jade.

"What are these?" Jade asked.

"Your standard nondisclosure agreement which outlines that what you see here can not be discussed outside of the circle of people that work here and for us outside. Penalties for breaking this agreement have also been outlined on page two. This is your last chance to back out. This job is usually a life long commitment that usually drives people insane or to their deaths in various ways. People I've seen as a family were taken by this job. Please do keep that in mind."

Harry looked over the legally binding paperwork and saw that there was nothing out of the ordinary inside of its that would cause a conflict of interests. There wasn't interesting Clause that stated that they may tell one person of their choosing the true nature of their work. Harry then paged over to the second page and saw some of the penalties for violating the agreement in a blatant fashion including, but not limited to, international blacklisting, memory wipes, and imprisonment. Harry, seeing that he had very few options, signed it before pushing it back towards Arty. "Just another day at the office for me," he offhandedly mentioned.

Jade, on the other hand, studied the documents thoroughly, primarily because she once got swindled on a car with faulty parts and there was a clause that screwed her over, and she was sixteen at the time. After she read through all the conditions of the agreement, she signed it and pushed it back towards Arty as well. He then took them, rolled them up, and put them inside a pneumatic delivery tube system and sent it off.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, Harry Potter, Jade Chan, Jade, Harry. There we go, introductions are out of the way. From this day forth you will be partners, congratulations," Arty said in a very neutral, sort of bored tone.

"Wait, what?!" Jade exclaimed.

"You mean she didn't- of course she didn't," Arty trailed with expected disappointment.

"What are we doing exactly?" Harry interjected.

Arty was knocked out of his train of thought, "Hmm? Oh, right. Your job is to snag, bag, and tag dangerous items called Artifacts that are then stored here in the Warehouse."

"Artifacts?"/"Warehouse?" Jade and Harry asked at the same time.

Arty sighed, "This way." He then started to walk towards a door near a set of blinded windows. He walked through it and Jade turned to Harry, only for him to shrug in response before following. The two stepped through just seconds after each other, but their reactions were identical. Their eyes widened in shock at the sheer size of the Warehouse they were in. Aisles arranged in incomprehensible patterns were in rows and arrays that were stacked dozens of meters up and what had to be miles upon miles wide and long as it held an entire commercial shipping vessel, the Hindenburg, and even a pyramid. "Agents Potter and Chan, welcome to Warehouse 13."

 **To be continued?**

XxXxXxX

 **And that is the end of that one. Quite interesting, don't you think? But you guys should all know me well enough by now to expect the SPANISH INQUISITION! I mean notes.**

 **1\. This is a reference to the movie** _ **Lilo & Stitch**_ **if you couldn't tell. Have fun with that idea.**

 **2\. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Hide in plain sight and by calling their magical police "Agents" they lower the possibility of the non-magic population from discovering them, rather assuming that they're some kind of government agent of some kind.**

 **3\. A** _ **Red vs. Blue**_ **reference. Why? Because I could and I needed a name to be used in a back story.**

 **4\. See "A Very Potter Musical" for this reference. It's on this site somewhere or another.**

 **And that's my pilot for a 3-way crossover with these three properties. As you can see with the sheer amount of backstory I created, I might actually make this its own thing. After all, there is an entire wiki page filled with fan submitted Artifacts like the Artifact in this pilot, Guy Fawkes mask, and there's hundreds more! And there's even an insinuation that Captain Black may be a member of the same Black family that Sirius was from, albeit a few times removed.**

 **As you also read Harry and Jade met Claudia, Steve, Myka, Artie, and Pete. How I would write their interactions, well, I don't quite know at this point. That's what's keeping this from moving from just a pilot to an actual chaptered series. But for now, at least people will be able to enjoy it here in this repository.**

 **Follow and Favorite this to see what I do next. See you guys next time!**


	9. A SW x Halo pilot

**Hey there guys, I got another plotbunny for you. This is an idea that I've had after seeing some… interesting take on this crossover type. Some were good while others, well I'll just leave it at that. But anyway, as I stated in my Naruto/Star Wars crossover I am a huge Star Wars nerd, have been since I was a kid.**

 **This story was inspired by the current duology written by UH-60 NIGHTSTALKER called "HALO: The Terran Affair" (** id: 8442710 **) and "HALO: The Andromeda War" (** id: 9053883 **). These two stories so far are the two best to come out of this crossover and I hope that this idea will at least be acceptable and entertaining.**

 **Rating: T-M, depends on future content including, but not limited to gore, implied sexual settings, language, etc. Although there won't be anything more than a T rating for content in this pilot.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Star Wars**_ **, unfortunately, belongs to Disney now and** _ **Halo**_ **belongs to Microsoft, 343i, and Bungie (for Halo 3 and ODST currently).**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

 **"Transmissions."**

 **{Suggested music track}**

XxXxXxX

Humanity is one of the more resilient races in the galaxy. They've been through so much during their time of sentience. They've avoided extinction against the Forerunners, complete extinction from the Flood, avoiding extinction long enough from each other to avoid extinction from the Covenant. While some may disagree and state that there are other species that are resilient as well, none have the tenacity to survive that others have the capability to, but none to the degree that humanity has. Humanity is not only capable of greatest of good deeds, but also the darkest of deeds as well. In the past they carried out the Mantle of Responsibility, to preserve life. Now they will have to take the Mantle into their hands once more to preserve life.

XxXxXxX

Timeline:

May 5, 2552 - The treaty ending hostilities between the UNSC and the Swords of Sanghelios is signed by the acting president of the UEG, Lord Terrence Hood, and the Arbiter. A memorial is created on the hillside on the outskirts of Voi overlooking the now deactivated Forerunner slipspace portal device. A memorial service for the dead is held, families of the deceased attend as well as Hood himself as he gave his speech, the Arbiter also attends in solidarity of the recently signed treaty.

2553 - The first volunteers for the Spartan-IV program undergo augmentation, including Sarah Palmer. Data acquired from the program's previous iterations allow for the adult volunteers to have a 99.97% success rate of survival.

2554 - Search parties are called off for any remaining crew of the Forward Unto Dawn. The Master Chief I'd still presumed MIA. The Infinity-class battle cruiser it's revealed to the public in a christening ceremony.

2555 - ONI discovers a wrecked alien ship on Venus during a routine sweep, picking up an extremely weak distress signal in between two storms on the surface. Military and contracted civilian scientists begin to study everything on the ship from weapons to faster than light propulsion systems. The project is leaked six months later when a talkative drunk part of the salvaging teams hired blabbed about the vessel.

2556 - Engineers extracted from the Forerunner shield world designated "Trevelyan" by ONI to the lab on Infinity to study the unique plasma weaponry called "blasters" by the original owners as well as the Hyperspace generators at another location.

Late 2556 - The Master Chief is recovered from the wreckage of the Forerunner ship Mantle's Approach in high orbit above Earth after the events on Requiem. Heavy weaponry based on the unknown alien ship is installed on the Infinity and on several new ships coming out of the shipyards.

2557 - Master Chief goes AWOL with the rest of Blue Team based off a sketchy lead on Cortana possibly being alive still. Fireteam Osiris, spearheaded by former ONI operative Jameson Locke, is sent to investigate and retrieve Blue Team preferably alive.

Mid 2557 - After six months of continuous fleeing from meta-Cortana and her army of Forerunner guardians, the crew of the Infinity have an unexpected guest pop in during one of their course corrections in normal space: Cortana, but not the one that was trying to subjugate them to a perverted version of the Mantle once held by the Forerunners, but a human female that looked like a younger Catherine Halsey or Miranda Keyes. To the few that knew Commander Keyes it was like seeing a ghost. She leads them to a Forerunner shield world where for the next six months they rearmed both Infinity and her escorts with the plasma-based blaster technology derived from the crashed ship. Cortana reveals that the "Cortana" Blue Team encountered on the Forerunner world designated Genesis was in fact a corrupted fragment of the real Cortana that was transmitted into the Domain after the Mantle's Approach was destroyed. She also reveals that she became human using the Composer but got lost in a Forerunner made slipspace portal for a time before appearing on the Infinity.

2558 - The remnants of the UNSC and the Swords of Sanghelios mount a joint offensive at the newly rediscovered Greater Ark to prevent meta-Cortana from using the Halo array should the sentient species revolt against her perverted version of the Mantle. During the final encounter with both Cortana entities Human-Cortana is fatally wounded both physically and neurologically, forcing medics to put her in cryostasis until a treatment can successfully be created. The Cortana fragment along with her enthralled AI compatriots are destroyed along with the deactivation of the Guardians.

2565 - All ships in the UNSC are retrofitted with turbo-lasers and other plasma based weaponry after the discovery of large deposits of Deuterium among the rubble of Onyx. The _Keyes_ -class destroyer is taken out of conceptual stages and is put into production, the first released from the shipyards being christened the _Keyes_. Bacta is planned to be replicated within the year. The Master Chief goes AWOL once again searching for means to save Cortana. Improvements in AI technology are taken from the Domain and extends the lifespan of Smart AIs from seven years to a hundred years so long as they haven't entered Rampancy.

2566 - The UEG and the Swords of Sanghelios ratify a law to blockade all known Halo platforms as "quarantine" zones to both prevent any latent Flood from making it off any rings as well as to prevent anyone from using them. New ships with weapons and defenses based off the crashed ship are placed into position around the Halos.

2567 - Our story begins.

XxXxXxX

 _Mother of Invention, in orbit around Installation 01's quarantine zone._

The _Mother of Invention_ , the newest of the UNSC Navy's _Keyes_ -class destroyers stood a silent watch over the ring world known as Halo. The _Keyes_ -class were named after both Captain Jacob Keyes, inventor of the Keyes Maneuver and one of the heroes of the first Halo, and Commander Miranda Keyes, hero of the Battle for Earth, Battle of Delta Halo and the Battle for the Ark. This _Keyes_ -class were deployed in three key places currently: Earth, Reach, and at Halo installation quarantine zones. The primary reason? Their fifty turbolaser batteries reverse engineered from the wreck on Venus, dual-phase shield generator taking the best of Forerunner and alien technologies to deflect both energy and physical impacts, and massive spinal mounted MAC cannon. Their twelve-hundred-meter bow to stern length, four-hundred-meter height, and three hundred and fifty-meter width also helped. While this specific class wasn't the largest by any means, she had a bite like a trained attack dog.

Captain Leonard Church, former civilian Ph.D. in AI development, stood with his arms crossed behind his back, staring at the starfield. "Ensign, anything on the scanners?" he asked without turning around.

A few hard light keys were tapped before the ensign replied, "No sir, nothing on scanners, slipspace or otherwise."

"Very well. Our relief arrives in forty-eight hours, Earth standard time, and we get to go home for well-deserved shore leave." The entire bridge cheered at the prospect of shore leave, after all they had been on station with nothing going on for close to four months; there was only so much the crew could do before cabin fever began to set in en mass.

As if a jinx had been placed on the crew alarms began to ring out on the bridge. "Captain, four ship signatures inbound using hyperspace vectors!" another sensors officer exclaimed.

"Ayame," Church said. At once at a holotank pedestal, a woman in a yellow hue appeared wearing a kimono and long hair that had ones and zeroes running through it. "Sound general quarters."

"Aye, aye sir," she replied politely. At once klaxons and alarms turned on, and the intercom speakers turned on. "Attention all hands: general quarters, this is not a drill." In an organized chaos crew members went to their assigned stations and all boarding crews stood ready in the landing bay.

An _Interdictor_ -class satellite, one of many in a spherical array around the Halo, activated and pulled the four ships, a carrier length ship escorted by three other gunboat sized ships, out of hyperspace earlier than they expected by use of the reverse engineered gravity well projectors.

"Hail them and prepare electronic warfare suites," Church commanded.

"You are connected, captain."

"Attention unknown vessel, you are approaching a quarantine zone. Change your course now or we will open fire." When no reply came Church reiterated his warning once more.

It was then one of the ships replied, **"You are one ship, we are four. We will kill you and enslave your crew."**

"Captain, they're charging weapons!" Ayame stated.

"Begin electronic warfare and contact the _Spirit of Sanghelios_ for support," Church commanded. "All batteries begin to plot firing solutions."

"Done."

"To...?"

"I'm in their systems. They really need to update their firewalls. Let's see... Life support? Engine controls? Ah, here we go, weapons." Ayame's figure blinked for a moment. "I've messed with their targeting systems. What else do we have? Cargo manifest?" The AI was silent for a moment before shouting, "Do not hit the one lagging behind the ship on our left side, it's carrying slaves in its cargo bay!"

"What about the other three?" Church asked.

"The others are filled with Trandoshan slavers, no others aboard them."

"Disable the carrier and destroy the escorts."

"Aye, captain. Rewriting targeting parameters. Done. MAC locked on and charged."

"Fire."

"Firing main cannon," Ayame droned. The lights flickered as the magnetically propelled ferric projectile passed the bridge. The round gutted one of the gunboats in an instant as they had their ray shields up, not their deflector shields as they expected turbolaser fire. Immediately the batteries opened fire on the two remaining escorts while pelting the carrier with ion cannon fire.

"Launch the drop ships, get the teams in position," Church commanded.

XxXxXxX

 _Pelican Foxtrot-362, in route to the hostile carrier._

Twelve individuals sat in the rear of the Pelican checking their weapons. All of them had the recently introduced MA5P variant assault rifle. What made this firearm completely unique was the fact it fired both the standard 7.62 NATO rounds in one barrel while the second stacked above it fired plasma based munitions reverse engineered from blasters found in the wreckage found on Venus. This allowed the user a multitude of options ranging from lethal plasma and coilgun accelerated bullets to nonlethal stun bolts.

These twelve individuals were Spartan-IVs. Six were from Fireteam Freelancer while the other five were formerly from the 88th ODST division, otherwise known as the 'Crazy Eighty-Eights' by everyone. The final individual on the Pelican was an Elite liaison. Everyone was checking over their weapons and the sounds of magazines being slammed into place and rifle bolts locking into place.

"Alright boys, lock and load! Time to earn us some hazard pay!" the leader of Bravo team shouted. He then turned to Alpha leader and asked, "So what's the plan?"

"Stacker," she acknowledged with a single nod. "As we know the lead ship is carrying slaves in its cargo hold. Alpha will take the bridge while Bravo secures the cargo hold. Schematics were downloaded to our Tac-pads by Ayame when she hacked their systems."

"We're coming up on the drop point!" the pilot shouted from the cockpit while simultaneously dodging an anti-ship round.

The back of the Pelican opened up to show The Mother of Invention showing off her weapons as another MAC round streaked out and gutted another gunboat. Everyone in the hold stood up and lined up at the ramp. "Use your packs sparingly, course correction only. You don't want to end up like Georgia," Alpha leader stated before grabbing a Brute gravity hammer. No one quite knew where she got it.

"Wait, what happened to Georgia?" one of Alpha asked, wearing steel colored armor with yellow highlights.

"Nobody knows, they never found him," another of Alpha replied.

At once the group ran forward as the drop ship flung around, throwing the two teams into space towards the carrier.

XxXxXxX

 _Fifteen minutes earlier. Trandoshan ship "In Chains", hyperspace transit._

To Ashoka Tano her week was going along quite horribly. First she and her master were called upon to investigate slavers that had been spotted around several star systems and had recently arrived on Ryloth. While she and Jedi knight Skywalker were able to prevent more of the Twi'lek race from being enslaved Ashoka had been stunned before she could rendezvous with her master. And here she was along with several hundred other assorted species in a Trandoshan ship's cargo hold heading to parts unknown to most likely be enslaved by some being in the Hutt cartel.

She sighed in reservation as while she could feel Anakin closing in, the Trandoshan ship, enhanced with illegal upgrades, was faster. She was huddled in a cramped cell with a twi'lek female and a mirlanian female to her immediate sides along with several humans as well. The ship shook violently as it was pulled from hyperspace. "It's the Republic, they found us!" one slave shouted.

But to Ashoka, she felt differently. This place they had stopped in felt evil. Well not originally evil, but she felt an abnormality in the Force, one that scared her immensely. There was a construct that had an aura of death and what their like the remnants of souls torn away from the Force itself. But there was something on the surface of the construct that made her even more sickened and afraid. It felt ancient, evil, and hungry. She prodded it with the Force and received a reply in her mind, 'I? I am a monument to ALL YOUR SINS. This is not your grave, but you are welcome to it,' it said in a gravelly voice. As she withdrew quickly from, whatever it was, it screamed in anger.

Her eyes snapped open while breathing heavily as if having a panic attack. "Master Jedi?" one of the slaves, the mirlanian. "Are you alright?"

Ashoka shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the ancient, hungering being she felt. She put on a false smile and replied, "I'm alright, just that abrupt hyperspace reversion didn't agree with my stomach." She reached out with the Force once more and felt tens of thousands of Force signatures in a spherical formation around the construct, most were human while others- well she had never sensed anything like them before! 'An undiscovered species!' she thought in surprise.

It was then that she sensed three hundred Trandoshans erased from the living. Before Ahsoka could ask what could destroy three slaver ships in only a few seconds, the hold she and many others were contained inside of went dark. If to answer what had happened to the ship, she heard the ion engines seize up and stop suddenly. 'Ion cannons,' Ahsoka thought. Minutes of darkness and silence later, she heard shouts and screams of pain coming from the main hangar bay; the Force telling her that many trandoshans were dying at a fast pace. "What in the Force is going on?"

XxXxXxX

 _Trandoshan transport, hangar bay._

The last lizard alien, or trandoshan if you will, fell to the ground in an unglorified heap of carcass as the local gravity restored in the hangar. The 'jump' from the pelican went without a hitch, other than Alpha-6 spinning out of control on the X axis as if he were doing a permanent aileron roll until he hit the artificial gravity of the vessel. Alpha-6 then proceeded to accidentally turn off the artificial gravity locally in the hangar temporarily. While the trandoshans were a space-faring species, they had no idea how to fight in Zero-G.

Jare 'Sragumee, the Elite liaison, stabbed a trandoshan in the chest with his Type-1 Energy Sword whose hilt was decorated with the sigil of his house. "That is the last of them," he said.

"Alpha, take the bridge; Bravo, the cargo hold. Weapons Master, you're with Bravo," Alpha-1 ordered.

"As you command," Jare replied, saluting in the Sangheili style with a fist to his chest.

The six remaining soldiers, five Spartans, and one Elite, stood near one of the closed doors. "Hawthorne, you're on point," Bravo-Lead ordered. The Spartan named Hawthorne racked his shotgun and aimed it at the door as another member of Bravo hacked the door panel. Microseconds passed and the door slid open with a rusty groan. "Headlamps off, VISR only."

The squad nodded and quietly made their way into the darkened ship. Sweeping corners and hallways. The trandoshans that they did come across were quickly and silently taken out of the picture before they could alert their allies either by an Energy Sword, their necks snapped, or the silent rounds that the squad's guns spat out. Finally, they made their way to the cargo hold that Ayame had marked on their tac-pads before they left the ship. As the power was out on a mass majority of the ship, they manually opened the door with their hands.

"Tossing sonar grenade," Ellert said over SQUADCOM as she tossed a Sonar Reconnaissance grenade into the room. The grenade was akin to a flashbang in size that emitted hypersonic frequencies to map a room and its occupants before a breaching team entered. Ellert looked at her tac-pad and saw the room light up as the sonic sound waves bounced and scattered, creating an accurate three-dimensional model on her device. Individuals that were unarmed were colored blue whereas those who had weapons were colored in red.

"Stack up," Bravo-Lead ordered. The soldiers did as they were ordered and set themselves up in yes of three on both sides of the cracked open door. "Strobes on, flash and clear." Bravo-3, threw a flashback grenade into the room. As the team's visors were polarized they started storming the room the moment the grenade went off. Blaster bolts flew out of Bravo's rifles and plasma bolts from Jare's plasma rifle. The trandoshans that attempted to hold their position in the cargo hold, using some of their captured prisoners as living shields. Bravo team executed each of the trandoshans with mechanical precision, leaving their hostages unharmed.

The team slowly spread out into the cargo bay and made sure to kick the blasters that were in the hands of the trandoshans away so that, if by some chance, they still lived then they would then be unarmed. "Status?" Bravo-Lead asked.

"Tangos down," Bravo-3 answered.

"Sweep the area," Lead ordered. They slowly fanned out and checked on the hostages that were held by the trandoshans before moving on to the other captured species, some human and most that the team didn't recognize. The team opened as many cages as they could by hand, busting the locks with their armored fists or slicing through lock with a plasma-based blade. As they were freed they were told to head to the hangar bay as it was secured at the moment.

"Sir, another cargo bay is on the other side of this bulkhead," Ellert reported.

"Is there another way inside?"

Bravo-5 tapped a few holographic keys on his tac-pad before replying, "There's a secondary entrance off the main corridor."

"Weapons Master, cloak and flank them."

The Elite saluted with a closed fist to his chest, "By your command." He then drew the hilt of his energy sword and he began to fade from the visible spectrum as his cloak activated.

The rest of Bravo stacked up against the other entrance to the cargo bay, that being the bulkhead entrance. Once Lead got a green light from their Elite he held up five fingers, folding one down each second. When all that remained was a fist Hawthorne kicked in the door, the immense amount of power put into his kick that it flew into an unlucky trandoshan that peeked out that caused its immediate death upon collision. Bravo stormed into the smaller cargo bay, diving behind cover as they dodged blaster bolts while returning fire, taking four of the twenty hostiles out of the fight permanently. Hawthorne moved up as rounded a corner and unloaded a 10-gauge shell into the face of one of the lizards. It was unsurprising that the now dead being fell back, spraying gore all around. The team made short work of the trandoshans until only one remained who held a vibroblade to the neck of a teenage, orange skinned alien girl.

"Step any closer and she dies," the trandoshan threatened.

"You lowlife slaver," the girl spat in indignation. She struggled little so that the knife wouldn't end her life earlier than what she wanted.

"Sir?" Ellert asked every member pointed their MA5Ps at the head of the trandoshan, ready to take the shot.

Bravo-Lead was rightfully conflicted. If they did take the shot there was no guarantee that a posthumous nervous reaction caused by the sudden separation of the brain from the rest of the body wouldn't kill her by accident. He finally made his decision. "Cook the-." But before he could finish his order an invisible force ripped the lizard's knife hand away before a semi-visible, dual-pronged energy blade entered its chest, filling the cargo bay with the scent of cooked flesh. The trandoshan's eyes widened in shock as Jare's cloak deactivated, revealing the eight foot tall being and all his menacing, elegant glory. "Never mind," Bravo-Lead concluded. "You have impeccable timing, you know that, Weapons Master?" he asked as he stepped over the body.

The Elite looked around the cargo bay. "My apologies, I ran into more of his kind and removed them from the equation," Jare replied. He then looked down at the teen who was nursing a bruise. "Are you well, child?"

She immediately looked up at the extremely tall, saurian speaker. She was immediately off putted by the being's mandibles. His stature accentuated a militaristic society based on his body language alone. While he was one of the tallest species that Ashoka had met, and the fact that she had seen General Grievous a few times in person, nothing really gave her the chills that this being was giving her, though that was due to the shadows in the room more than anything else. Despite all that, she still indignantly shot back, "I'm not a child. I'm a Jedi Padawan."

"My apologies, I was unaware that the species 'Jedi' called adulthood 'padawan'," Jare apologized.

Ahsoka blinked in confusion. "Nice joke there, surely you know what the Jedi are?" Jare and Bravo-Lead looked at each other before facing Ahsoka again. "You're serious, aren't you? You've never heard of the Jedi?" One of the Spartans just shrugged. "You know, lightsabers, the Force, we're the good guys fighting against the Sith and all that?"

"They sound like your kind of people, Weapons Master," Bravo-Lead joked.

"What do you mean?" the Sangheili asked.

"You know, the whole swordplay with energy-based melee weapons."

"I do not 'play', Lieutenant," Jare said all too seriously.

The Lieutenant placed his hand on Jare's shoulder, "My friend, you still have much to learn about human wordplay." Before he could mess with their Sangheili ally more, the lieutenant heard like a small ***dink*** of metal on metal, as if something was dropped. His enhanced hearing forced him to look towards the downed trandoshan who had just dropped a spherical blinking device. After training with many different weapons over his tenure as a soldier in the UNSC, he immediately knew what it was and shouted, "GRENADE!"

Immediately, everyone leapt for cover behind crates or other solid mass that would hold up against both the blast shockwave and any shrapnel thrown around by the detonation. The Spartans were the first to dive behind cover, followed by Jare, followed by Ahsoka. While Ahsoka was a Jedi, and a trained duelist, she was still prone to make mistakes due to her age and experience in age. She attempted to round a corner too quickly and tripped over a crate that would have made OSHA officials balk at the placement. She bounced weirdly off of the crate and was still a full meter inside the blast zone when the thermal detonator went off.

One moment Ahsoka was tripping, the next moment she was thrown into a bulkhead violently. Ahsoka tried to move, but her legs wouldn't respond to her. She managed to tilt her head to see that she was crumpled against the bulkhead and that there was a lot of blood on the floor. "MEDIC!" the lieutenant shouted.

As Ahsoka was slowly fading into the darkness she heard a voice, a female says, "She doesn't look good, sir. We'd have a better chance at saving her if we got her back to the _Invention_."

"Copy that." The lieutenant then activated his radio and connected to the BattleNet. " _Mother of Invention_ , we need immediate medevac."

" **Copy that, Bravo. But until Alpha captures the bridge and disables self-contained security measures we cannot send a Pelican for extraction,"** Ayame replied through the network.

"Copy, over and out." He then turned to his team. "Everyone but Doc spread out and secure the ship." That was the last Ahsoka heard before the darkness took her.

XxXxXxX

 _One hour later. Mother of Invention bridge._

Captain Church was pleased with the efficiency that his teams were able to execute their orders. He was also pleased at how quickly they were able to disable the approaching vessels before they broke the Maginot Line quarantine barrier. Cleanup crews, see junkers, would be en route within one of Earth's days to dispose of the wreckage so that none of it would land on the Halo, giving the Flood an opportunity to escape the ring. He was also pleased at the speed at which the crew was able to clear the entire enemy ship of its 'passengers' and appropriately triage them for possible treatment if required. The only one that required severe medical attention was the orange skinned alien girl, which the 'passengers' called togruta when initially questioned, who went into emergency surgery as soon as the vessel was docked via the ventral hangar bay by tractor beam.

"Sir," Ayame greeted as she appeared on the holotank next to his command chair.

"You have something to report, Ayame?" Church asked.

"I have the initial report stated by the medic on the state of his patient." She then brought up several reports on a smaller screen in front of her, and swiped towards the captain's screen, showing the whole reports in full screen as they appeared before him. "Teenage female of the now known species togruta, approximately 1.7 meters tall." Another report appeared in front of Church. "Shattered L1 vertebrae, using human anatomy as a comparison, and spinal column severance due to both bone fragments and shrapnel from the grenade."

"Prognosis?" Church asked while swiping through the x-ray images that showed what both the medical report and Ayame's narration of the report.

"The massive blood loss is being countered by onboard flash-cloning modules to replicate compatible blood. Metabolic accelerators as well as an IV drip containing necessary nutrients needed for accelerated metabolic healing. According to initial reports, though, she won't walk again."

"You don't seem to be convinced," Church mentioned, hearing the slight inflection of doubt she vocalized.

"There's... a way. However, it requires breaching the Cole Protocol."

"How so?"

Ayame wrung her hands together, almost nervously. "You know our facilities on board can only take care of so many patients before we either exhaust our supplies or being able to take care of certain injuries that we can only temporarily treat before they need to be transferred to an actual hospital. Due to the severance of her spinal column, we would need access to stem cells to create the appropriately compatible neurons."

Church folded his hands in front of him. "We would be causing an unnecessary risk to UNSC systems. If we were tracked home we could cause an opening for attacks not only for that colony but for others as well should hostile forces discover our data databanks with navigational data."

"That's why I suggest Reach."

"Why to Reach?"

"Even though the planet has yet to be fully terraformed from its past glassed state, the orbital defense grid is still in place and the Zero-G medical facilities are capable of taking on the wounded. ONI are also planetside setting up their bases and can have the trandoshans we've picked up taken to interrogation while the others are interviewed in a calmer setting."

"Have you shared this with the Consortium?" Church asked.

"Why would you think I would go to them before HIGHCOM?" Ayame asked innocently.

Church raised an eyebrow. "Other than AI being able you think faster than humans ever will be and be able to calculate odds and chances of things either working out or failing before we would even begin to discuss it? Because all AI are welcome to present cases and scenarios for the rest of the Consortium to evaluate."

"I didn't know that you knew that," Ayame said sheepishly.

"All captains do, my friend," Church replied. "What was their analysis and decision?"

"If we could have a preset of goodwill set up with these people, we might be able to gain valuable intelligence on boundaries of current factions, currently that being the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, we can avoid intrusion into their territories forcing them upon us to choose between both of them when we have our own government and do not wish to give it up. Plus, there are some of the former captives that say the Republic is under the control of corrupt bureaucrats. Others are convinced that something similar is happening on the side of the Confederacy as well, but it's unknown to what extent to which the corruption exists."

"And has this been forwarded to HIGHCOM?"

"One of the AIs attached to Admiral Hood should be approaching him with our analysis." Ayame then froze up for a second before exclaiming, "Sir, three cruisers were just tagged and pulled from hyperspace! They're in both sensor and weapons range, putting them on screen now!" The lights on the bridge dimmed as red lamps lit up and alarms klaxons began to activate. Church looked at the vessels on screen and saw what looked like the Keyes-class but had a command tower with its bridge prominently displayed instead of the Covenant inspired command center design where the bridge was both protected in the center of the ship instead of the traditional human method of having the bridge at the front. "Orders?"

Church sat calmly, he steepled his fingers like a certain anime character from centuries ago. "Send the standard message according to protocol, aim all batteries and missiles at the ships, lock weapons until I give the order, these ships are more heavily armed than the ones we destroyed earlier and we don't want an accidental discharge. What about the others on the BattleNet?"

"The UNSC _Mobius_ and CAS _Tempered Faith_ are vectoring for a slipspace micro-jump behind the ships should they be hostile."

"Very good. Open a channel to then and broadcast the message as per protocol," Church commanded.

"Aye, sir."

XxXxXxX

 _Ten minutes earlier. Republic pursuit fleet, Hyperspace._

Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker paced around on the bridge near the communications suite ravenously, frustrated that he had yet to find his apprentice who was stolen from him and week ago while on Felucia during an attack on a Separatist outpost. The ship, one used prominently by the trandoshan slaver rings as their ship of choice. Their ship had been jumping from system to system with no apparent reason as to why. Every day since Ahsoka's disappearance they had been playing 'catch up' with the trandoshans, arriving hours after they had already left. But less than ten hours ago that changed. The trandoshans appeared to have a rendezvous point a few parsecs outside of their home system where they met up with two other ships of the same size before booking it into hyperspace in a direction that wasn't charted to be heading towards their homeworld. The only reason they found out was because of latent transmissions was marked at being sent an hour ago.

"If you keep pacing like that you'll wear a hole in the floor," Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi jested as he watched his former apprentice.

Anakin turned and glared at his former master. "This isn't the time for joking, Obi-Wan. Ahsoka is out there in danger and it's my responsibility to bring her back safely," Anakin heatedly shot back.

Obi-Wan placed a hand on his former apprentice's shoulder. "I know, but you have to realize she too is a Jedi and is as headstrong as you are. She can take care of herself long enough for us to get her."

Anakin sighed. "I know. But I can't help but worry about her safety. I felt something through the Force; it was like she shouted in pain before succumbing to nothingness. I fear that we are too late," Anakin lamented.

"Anakin, what does the Force tell you?" Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin closed his eyes and reached out to the Cosmic Force. A moment later he opened his eyes and replied, "That she'll be fine."

"Then she'll be fine," Obi-Wan reassured him. "Trust in the Force, my friend, it's our ally and won't lead us astray."

Anakin took a deep breath to calm himself before replying, "Thank you, master."

"That's what friends are for."

A set of footsteps approached was followed by, "The general's right, General Skywalker." Anakin turned to see Captain Rex standing near the holodesk with his signature helmet under his arm. "The commander is a strong person and she's learning from one of the best. While I too am worrying about her safety, I am confident she will come out of this for the better."

"Thanks, Rex. But I-," Anakin said before being abruptly cut off as the ship shook as it was ripped from hyperspace back into real-space. Even though the Jedi had heightened reflexes, they were still subject to the laws of physics and we're thrown forward towards the forward observation viewport that was at the head of the bridge. While they didn't fall down like many standing soldiers, they still did stumble forward.

"Helm, what's happening?!" Obi-Wan asked the bridge pit crew.

One of the crew recovered and looked at his instrument panel and reported, "We've been pulled from hyperspace by a gravity well! The safety locks on the hyper hyperdrive are engaged, we cannot jump away!"

"A gravity well? I don't see any planets or celestial bodies," Obi-Wan commented.

"It might be a trap," Rex commented.

"Sensors, give me an update, what's out there?" Anakin ordered.

The clone crew quickly tapped away at their workstations to answer their commanding officer. Finally, an officer chirped up, "Sir, we're surrounded by debris."

A few moments later another clone said, "It's the wreckage of the trandoshan ships, the analogs match." Anakin looked down at the ground in anger. "Correction, it's only enough for three of the four ships," the clone corrected himself.

"What?" Anakin asked in shock.

"Where's the third?" Obi-Wan asked.

Another clone tapped away at his console before hitting the side of it. "Blasted computer," he swore.

"Is there something wrong, crewman?" Rex asked the clone.

He looked at Rex in confusion. "I think this computer's busted."

"What makes you say that?"

"Take a look at this," he stepped aside for the clone commando to look. Rex hopped down into the pit and looked over the screen. "This can't be right, right?"

Obi-Wan stepped to the edge of the pit and asked, "Well, what does it say?"

"That there's an artificial object ten thousand kilometers in diameter orbiting a gas giant a million kilometers ahead of us," Rex replied.

"That can't be right. No one's ever built anything that large. Reboot your console and check again," Obi-Wan commented.

"That's the thing, general, I did," the clone replied.

"And why would something that size be impossible?" a clone asked as if he were an analogue for someone else.

"Other than the sheer size of it being able to generate its own natural gravity if using a centrifugal force, it would have to be made of something that would be able to handle the stresses placed upon it without either collapsing in on itself or ripping itself apart, and no one has built something of that size," Obi-Wan answered.

"Well it looks like we'll get an answer to what it is in a second," Rex said, breaking up the conversation, "object coming into view... now."

Everyone who wasn't essential to keep the vessels moving stared out the window. And their eyes widened in amazement and sheer awe and wonder as the object. However, Obi-Wan was the one person who summed up everyone's mind. "By the Force," Obi-Wan said in shock.

 **{Halo 3: Original Soundtrack. Covenant. Gravemind. 4:10}**

What slowly appeared before them in terrifying glory was a large silver, metal hoop. No, ring. As it slowly rotated, light caught the interior of the ring revealing landmasses and water on it. On the exterior faintly glowing blue lights ran across it creating an eerie blue glow at the distance they were at. There were only murmurs on the bridge as they reveled in the glory of the construct of whatever race built this giant ring. It silently and slowly rotated through space in orbit around the gas giant. However, to both Anakin and Obi-Wan, they felt a tickle in the back of their mind to which they only heard the whisper **'And so two more arrive. Interesting.'**

"Anakin, did you just say something?" Obi-Wan asked his former apprentice in confusion, primarily to eliminate a possibility.

"No," Anakin answered with just as much confusion. "Was that you?"

Obi-Wan only commented, "That can't be a good sign."

As if some deity was listening in on them, alarms began to ring throughout the bridge. "Generals, two contacts just appeared on sensors!" a clone reported. Without hesitation, the clone transferred the sensor data to the holotable that Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Rex were standing around.

Two holograms appeared on the table, the first of which looked just like a _Venator_ -class cruiser except there was no command tower, it had no colors other than a metallic shade of gray and white lettering in a language that was definitely not Aurebesh as well as the emblem of a bird grabbing a planet in its talons, the last major difference was the large hole running through the vessel's center. Though it wasn't damaged, but designed that way intentionally. The first ship's length was approximately one kilometer long and several hundred wide and approximately another hundred high. The other ship was another beast altogether. It easily dwarfed both the first ship and the three _Venator_ -class ships the Republic sent to find Ahsoka, sensors marked it at being almost five kilometers long. Whereas the first ship was very angular, like the Republic cruisers, this one was almost beautiful and elegant to look at if it weren't so terrifyingly huge.

"Generals, they're on an intercept course and their weapons already have a lock on us!" a clone reported.

"Get a lock on them!" Anakin ordered.

"We can't, our weapons are out of range!"

"Calm down, Anakin," said an oddly calm Obi-Wan.

"Calm down? They have a lock on all three of our cruisers!" Anakin shouted at Obi-Wan.

"If they already had a lock on us, why haven't they fired at us?"

Then it dawned on Anakin. 'Why aren't they firing?' he thought. Then it hit him. "Forward this order to the rest of the group: full stop!"

"General?" Rex asked in confusion, many other clones replicated his question with their posture and facial expressions.

"Just do it!" Anakin ordered. Rex looked at Anakin one more time before one of his brothers followed Skywalker's order. Within moments of each other, each of the three cruisers stopped with only a slight drift.

The holoprojector lit up with the image of Admiral Yularen wearing a slightly angry expression. **"Generals, why did you give the order to stop?"** he asked.

Obi-Wan stepped forward to answer. "We believe that democracy, not a show of force, will benefit us in this situation," he replied.

 **"You are playing a dangerous game, general,"** Yularen chastised, **"we have already received alerts that they have multiple locks on us and we are unable to do the same."**

"General," a clone shouted out, "we're receiving a transmission from the smaller of the two ships!"

 **"Attention, unidentified vessels,"** a digital sounding female voice said.

"Unidentified?" Anakin asked. Before he could get a reply the transmission continued.

 **"You are approaching a quarantine zone. Turn around and leave immediately or you will be destroyed or boarded and detained as per containment protocols."**

"A quarantine zone?" Obi-Wan asked. "What could have caused these people to result to such drastic measures?"

"Maybe it's something like the Blue Shadow Virus?" Rex pitched in.

"Well we can't leave until we find Ahsoka," Anakin stated adamantly.

"I agree," Rex added.

Obi-Wan sighed. He knew that wouldn't be able to sway Anakin's opinion or decision after he got it in his head. "Comms?" Obi-Wan asked, getting the attention of the clone at the console. "Can we send a live transmission to them?"

The clone looked at his console and replied, "We have the frequency they broadcasted to us, we can try to send one back."

"Do it," Anakin chimed in, cutting off any reply Obi-Wan might have had.

The clone nodded and tapped a few keys before turning around. "You're live."

Before Anakin could speak and possibly aggravate the so far non-hostile unknowns with his very... specific kind of negotiation tactics, Obi-Wan stepped forward to the microphone. "Hello there, we seem to have lost our way looking for our wayward friend. Perhaps you've seen her?" Obi-Wan said in the friendliest tone that he had at his disposal.

 **"Identify yourselves,"** a male voice replied to them with a heavy accent of some kind that Obi-Wan, Anakin, or Rex couldn't place.

"I am Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, with me are Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and Admiral Wulff Yularen," Obi-Wan replied. "Now that you now know who we are, it would be only fair to know who you are."

 **"My name is Doctor Leonard Church, captain of the UNSC** _ **Mother of Invention**_ **. At least you're polite, something those overgrown lizards weren't. You said you lost a wayward friend, would you care to describe her?"** the man named Church asked respectfully.

This time, Anakin shot forward and took over. "She's a togruta, approximately fifteen galactic years old, she can also get a bit snippy," Anakin quickly described his apprentice.

The other side went silent for a moment with only whisper-like chatter going on that came through. **"Ayame, activate visual communications with them,"** Church said morosely.

 **"Are you sure, sir?"** a digital female asked.

 **"Just do it,"** Church ordered.

 **"Aye, sir."**

Without their doing, the cruiser's holoprojectors activated to reveal the two-dimensional image of a middle-aged human male with dark hair and a moustache and goatee facial hair style. He even had glasses on, a visual prosthetic that had been phased out of the greater civilized galaxy for millennia. **"We have much to discuss. I welcome you to come aboard via the aft hangar bay by shuttle."**

XxXxXxX

 _Mother of Invention, hangar. Minutes later._

Four individuals walked down the corridor that led from the ship's lift system towards the ventral hangar bay. The first of these four is Leonard Church, captain of the _Mother of Invention_. He wears the standard UNSC on-duty officer's uniform, his hair grayed with age, and his technologically inferior eyeglasses. He technically didn't need the glasses as the UNSC officer's health plan covered getting laser eye surgery at bargain prices as a thank you for their service. The same could be said about his choice in letting his hair gray, after all there were a plethora of products that a person could buy that would qualify as 'beauty products' to the public and while he didn't see such products as 'girly' or 'emasculating', he did see them as a waste of money, money that could be well spent elsewhere. He had no visible weapon on his person, though he had a holdout Derringer hidden on his person of the worst happened.

The person immediately to his right was Jare 'Sragumee, the Sangheili liaison, keeping pace with the rest of the group, although he could outpace them in a casual walking speed competition just like the rest of his species due to their taller stature and more 'graceful' moment style. He wore silver accented black armor that was reserved for someone of his rank. It looked shiny and spotless due to him giving his armor a thorough cleaning when he returned to the ship as it had a few marks from carbon scoring, Covenant armor proved quite superior when it came to defending against energy based weapons. He stood with the humans as he was the liaison for Sanghelios on this ship and therefore was be required to be present to report the events that would happen next. He carried his Energy Sword on his waist, as was his right, and bore no other weapon.

On Church's left was a teal armor wearing Spartan who currently had her Recon variant armored helmet under her arm. Her brightly accented red hair, a very rare natural hair color these days, lit up any room that she went inside of. Her hair color also accented and complemented, although not always positively, her attitude and temper when riled up. Her squad knew this from firsthand experience whenever they royally messed up during missions or goofed off in the middle of a mission, something that a few of her team did do. Her hair was currently worn in a short cut ponytail in order to accommodate for her helmet. A M90 shotgun was maglocked to her back and a standard service pistol was magnetically holstered to her thigh.

Next to her is a male Spartan clad in the Mark VI style of armor painted in brown and brown accents. The first thing most would notice about him was his missing eye that came about from a training accident years ago; said eye had been replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic that looked normal in regular lighting but had a tendency to glow eerie electric green in low light conditions. The man's brown hair was styled in such a way that it took the required crew cut length, as per UNSC regulations, but used a type of hair product in a an attempt to give himself a little more of a visual difference between him and his comrades. He also carried his matching Mark VI helmet under his arm as he walked in time to the rest of the group. He had a BR55 maglocked to his back and a personally modified version of the standard UNSC sidearm holstered to his thigh.

"I still believe that this is a bad idea," the woman stated.

"What's done is done, Carolina and I want you on your best behavior for our guests," Church replied.

"And if they're hostile?"

"Then they'd better quickly learn how to breathe in a vacuum," Church replied with little emotion.

"Umm, sir? Wouldn't that kill everyone in the hangar?" the man asked with great concern.

"It would, York, if I hadn't had the order issued to clear the hangar of all non-EVA equipped personnel."

Jare chose, this time, to chime in. "Do you believe that these humans will be hostile to prepare such a measure?" Jare asked carefully.

"'Be prepared for every outcome.' That's what I took away from First Contact on Harvest all those years ago. I expect a peaceful resolution, but I also plan for the worst." They arrived in the hangar where only a few EVA equipped crew members worked on various items to appear busy. Seconds passed in an uncomfortable silence until a shuttle passed through the ionization field that kept the breathable, yet chilly, atmosphere inside the hangar separate from the hard vacuum of space. The shuttle was of a similar design seen back in the records of the alien warship that were normally associated with the Republic, although it did have an updated design aesthetic. "Ayame," Church called out, "had the Cole Protocol been set up to initiated if required?"

The AI appeared in her holographic form on Church's tac-pad. "Aye, sir, it has. Your panic phrase is the same, would you like to change it?"

"No, that will be unnecessary. Are retaliation targets chosen?"

The shuttle lowered its landing struts and settled down on the hangars deck. "The flash capacitors are charged and the MAC is loaded and primed to fire on command."

"Good. Set the slipspace drive for a five-minute countdown for the self-destruct."

"Aye, Aye, captain," she replied as she disappeared. Both York and Carolina put on their helmets and got ready for anything.

The shuttle's engine shut down and a few seconds passed before the ramp on the underside of the shuttle lowered as it hissed, equalizing the atmospheric pressures between the two vessels. After finishing its cycle, two men walked down the ramp. One was older, sporting a well groomed beard and mustache combination. He also wore various shades of brown when it came to his chosen attire: robes that had armored gauntlets. If Church were to make a random guess at the man's age, he'd say somewhere in his upper thirties to younger forties. Church also identified him as the one named Obi-Wan. The one standing next to him wore much darker, but still similar in function and design, clothing. If Church could pick but one word to describe this twenty-something, it would be 'focused.' He looked as though he were on a mission, and if he was in fact the master of the girl in the Infirmary, then that was understandable why. They both carried silver tubes on their belts, and if Sangheili culture had taught him anything, those were either ceremonial weapons or some kind of marks of station.

Two other men followed them mere feet behind. They were similarly armored and stood at approximately 1.8 meters tall. Church could have sworn that they could be brothers even without seeing them yet. Two things differentiate the two. The first of which is that one is wearing orange trimmed white armor, while the other wore a darker blue trimmed armor. The orange one had a kind of ocular attachment attached to his helmet while the other had a type of antenna sticking out that had a flat top to it. The orange one seemed to favor the Spartan style of armor design, that being pretty utilitarian while the second had a type of... open front skirt, there was no other word for it that Church could think of, around his waist which had twin pistol holsters on the side of it. Church, as well as York, Carolina, and Jare all noticed that they sported weapons as well; the blue one with twin pistols and the orange one with a stockless rifle type of weapon. Knowing that these two were soldiers immediately sought the two Spartans to lower their hands to their service pistols, ready to quickdraw on them.

Church was glad to see that no one else came out of the shuttle, however, that didn't mean that there four weren't some kind of highly trained assassins. Church kept his stance casually formal, just enough to put the four men at ease. The foreign group approached Church and his. They stood in front of each other, calmly examining each other both by body language and by how each person looked at the other. Finally, Church broke the uncomfortable silence and extended his right hand. "Welcome aboard," he greeted, his Texan accent coming on strong.

After taking a moment to recognize the specific social greeting cue, Obi-Wan extended his hand as well and shook Church's waiting hand. "We thank you for your hospitality, captain," Obi-Wan replied. Both Church and Obi-Wan noticed that they both gave a fairly firm handshake. Releasing the captain's hand he gestured to his companions. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought with me a few companions."

"So long as you don't mind that I brought a few friends of my own," Church replied.

"Allow me to introduce my good friend Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, Captain Rex, and Commander Cody."

"Charmed, I'm sure."

"Obi-Wan, we can't dawdle anymore," Anakin muttered to his friend with impatient anxiety.

Church noticed the man's anxious nature and addressed them, "I'm sure you are wanting to see your colleague. We do request that you holster any weapons."

"Of course, captain, it is your ship," Obi-Wan replied. The Jedi Master then turned to the two clone commandos and nodded. As Rex already had his pistols holstered, Cody complied and slung his blaster rifle over his shoulder.

Church then lead them through his ship, sending a quick message to Ayame to stand down on the Cole Protocol pertaining to the self-destruct. They walked through the ship's public areas, places that would be easy to defend if attacked in, allowing for Ayame to seal them in and vent the atmosphere of the area. After all, he didn't want these people to know how their ship worked or where the reactors, hyperdrive generator, and slipspace drive were located.

"This is quite the impressive vessel, captain," Obi-Wan commended. "Might I ask where your people got the idea for the design?" Obi-Wan knew that Kuat were responsible for the construction of their cruisers and it was plausible that Kuat was doing a similar job with a different but similar design for these people.

"While I do thank you for the compliment, that information is classified," Church replied as they reached the main lift bay.

After a fairly silent elevator ride later, the doors opened to reveal the deck that both the medbay and cryofreezing bay were located. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan noticed the all too sterile nature of the floors and walls, as well as the slight chill in the air that was unnatural, even for being in space. "Where are we, exactly?" Anakin asked.

"Medical and cryogenics," Church replied.

"Why would you bring us here?" Anakin asked more hostilely than intended.

"Everyone retrieved from the vessel," 'except for the trandoshans we kept alive in the brig' Church convieniently left out, "were brought here to be checked out by our medical officer as per protocol." Anakin breathed a sigh of relief as this was how this ship's protocols were set up. "However, your friend is in a bit of a pickle and we were about to decide how to proceed before you showed up."

"What do you mean 'in a pickle'?" Obi-Wan asked very carefully.

The doors to the medbay slid open and they walked inside. Church turned to the medical officer on duty and addressed him by his rank before walking with his entourage further inside the medbay. Church led them towards the ICU where behind 'biohazard' class glass Ahsoka laid motionless on a medical bed while a very odd visual bubble around the bed. Immediately on seeing his apprentice on a hospital bed Anakin snapped. He lunged forward toward Church and grabbed the collar of his uniform and lifted him up in the air. "What did you do to my apprentice?!" he shouted in barely controlled anger.

"I did nothing to her," Church calmly replied despite the fact that he was in the hands of someone who was emotionally attached to the girl in the other room.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan chastised his former apprentice. Anakin heard two weapons being cocked and looked to the captain's sides and saw two barrels of weapons pointed towards him, primarily his head, both weapons were held by the two humongous soldiers. Obi-Wan could easily tell that the larger bored one held by the female was a ballistic projectile based weapon while the other one held by the make was either kinetic or particle based. "Now is the time for a clear mind." Anakin looked at the captain, then at Obi-Wan, then at his apprentice, and finally back at the captain. Anakin let out a huff as he released the captain. "I do apologize for my friend's… overreaction." Church smoothed out his uniform, ensuring that he looked presentable as his station required. As he did Obi-Wan looked in on the room. "Could you explain what is going on?"

"She's currently in a temporal stasis field to prevent her status from deteriorating any further."

"Temporal stasis?"/"What?" both Obi-Wan and Anakin asked at the same time, asking questions to different parts of Church's report.

Church sighed. "Ayame, perhaps you could explain this better?" Church asked the listening AI.

"Of course, sir," came Ayame's voice from the speakers in the room. She then appeared on a holotank connected to the rest of the ship's network. "Konichiwa, gentlemen," she greeted with a slight bow as her chosen persona was that of a Japanese noble lady.

"Woah," Rex commented. While Cody didn't say anything, he was in definite agreement.

"Impressive," Obi-Wan added.

"What are you?" Anakin asked.

"I am AYM 0167-1, but you can call me Ayame," she greeted. She predicted their next question by adding, "I am a fully self-aware artificial intelligence created for the purpose of running systems, weapons, and sensors among other things. I also am here for companionship, if a crewmember needs someone to talk to, they may speak to me, should they want to."

"What?" Rex asked.

"I have access to thousands of medical journals and psychological theses to cater an appropriate response relevant to the conversation at hand."

"Oh."

"Your friend is inside a temporal displacement field, or time dilation bubble depending on your personal preference, that is set to a ratio of a thousand to one. For every thousand seconds we experience, only one passes for her." She then opened several files and displayed them on screen. "Complete shattering of the equivalent of the human L1 vertebrae and severance of the spinal column due to sharp Force trauma from shrapnel from a grenade as well as bone fragments. The fragments were successfully removed and any additional superficial wounds cleaned."

"What are you saying, exactly?" Obi-Wan asked for clarification. After all, he might be knowledgeable about many things, but anatomy was not one of his strengths.

"If she is not treated soon the damage will become permanent and she will never walk again without cybernetic assistance. That is the reason she is in the stasis field, to prevent further cellular damage before a treatment can be administered. The only other option was cryogenic freezing, which in her state might cause more damage."

"There has to be something you can do!" Anakin shouted in desperation.

"There is… but there's a bit of a snag on which we're still waiting on the green light for."

"And that is?" Rex asked. His helmet and training allowing him to keep a mostly calm demeanor.

"Bringing her into our territory to receive treatment at a fully staffed hospital," Church answered for Ayame.

"If I may ask, why your facilities? The Republic has state of the art medical centers."

"Do you have flash cloning to replicate damaged tissue?" Church asked, primarily out of curiosity rather than proving that their technology was better than this Republic. After all, his scientific mind wanted to know.

"Flash cloning?" Cody chimed in.

"Flash cloning is the process of replicating biological 'twins' to a degree," Ayame answered. "The only legal use for flash cloning is to replace failing organs, missing limbs, and the like. It is illegal under UNSC laws to flash clone a full human or sentient being."

"Cloning is illegal?" Rex asked, his eyebrow raised.

"There are many reasons for the illegality of cloning ranging from religious beliefs that one is encroaching on 'God's territory' by creating life while others see it as a human rights violation. Then there's the whole socioeconomic impact that it would have. Most decide that it's a mess that they don't want to deal with if they don't have to."

"If we could get back on topic, why flash cloning?" Obi-Wan asked in an attempt to get the discussion back on track.

"Because by introducing stem cells to recreate nerve tissue growth, we can return her ability to walk without her even knowing. As for our facilities, while we do have the capability to replicate and flash clone body parts for surgical applications, but as you may have noticed our crew is primarily human, save for the Weapons Master here as he is an envoy. When planning long term assignments like the one we've been on, the UNSC has genetic templates sequenced and stored on each vessel each serviceman is stationed in the case of a fatal or life threatening injury. This vessel nor do any in our battle group has this specific piece of equipment. While we could attempt treatment with a human's gene set, the chance of rejection is high and could cause many more problems, including but not limited to death."

"And why have you done nothing?" Anakin asked once more, once more barely containing any rage he had.

"I assume that you aren't the highest person on the food chain and therefore take orders from someone else, the same is for us." Church continued. "We have certain protocols in place in times such as these where we make contact with another civilization. This protocol has saved the lives of many and can be only overridden by one of the many heads of our government. We are waiting on that authorization and hence why the specific time ratio for the bubble."

Obi-Wan looked conflicted. He felt for his fellow Jedi, his apprentice was injured and as his fellow Jedi and friend, no, brother, it hurt him to see his friend like this. Anakin was his apprentice for ten years and whenever they went on missions that could go downhill fast he feared something similar that happened to Ahsoka would happen to Anakin. Luckily, the worst thing that happened while Anakin was under his tutelage was losing his hand to Dooku. While that had been traumatizing in its own right, this was worse for his friend as there was a chance that Ahsoka, the snippy apprentice, might never walk again.

"Captain," Ayame said getting the Church's and everyone else's attention. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that HIGHCOM has authorized the transport of Ahsoka to Reach to hospital platform _Angel on My Shoulder_."

"And the bad news?" Church asked, wincing in anticipation of what the answer would be.

" _ **She**_ wants to speak with you."

Church froze up and slowly looked from the young alien girl towards the AI. " _ **Her**_?"

" _ **Her**_ ," Ayame emphasized.

Church then sighed. "Very well. I'll take the transmission in my quarters."

Ayame then shook her head. "No, she wants to speak. Now."

"Ayame, I hardly think that here is the place for-."

 **"LEONARD CHURCH!"** a female voice shouted as the live transmission began. Church immediately cringed at the very specific tone used that while most would call a very irate woman's voice, he would call it 'ear grating'.

"Oh boy."/"Shit." Both York and Carolina said at the same time. York in more amusement rather than Carolina's groan.

A screen appeared on the ICU's glass revealing a blonde woman in her mid-forties who looked quote fit for her age and showed several scars from battles long gone. She looked, and sounded, quite irate at Church. **"Would you mind telling me why Admiral Osman came down to my office about something you did?"**

Church looked oddly nervous to everyone. "Allison, I was merely doing my job and-," Church tried to defend himself.

" **And your actions following almost got you a court martial,"** the woman named Allison interrupted. She leaned back in her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose. **"Jesus Church, what were you thinking? Suggesting to break the Cole Protocol to both Lord Hood and the President himself? Are you trying to kill your career?"**

"Even if it certainly to that, I would still stand by my convictions."

Allison sighed. **"I know you would. You're extremely lucky that Lord Hood has some form of foresight that none of us seem to understand. If it weren't for him you'd be in some dark ONI black site. An ONI officer will be waiting for you to debrief you when you arrive."**

Away from the conversation that trailed off into a bunch of military talk about protocols and other regulations. Obi-Wan turned towards the two large soldiers and asked, "Who is she and what is ONI?"

"His wife," York replied. "As for the second, ONI stands for the Office of Naval Intelligence. You know, Navy spooks?"

"Doesn't that break some kind of regulation?"

"Not really, they're in different departments," York shrugged.

"Surely such an arrangement is stressful on their relationship?"

"You have no idea."

" **What was that, York?"** Allison demanded.

"Nothing, colonel," York replied all too quickly.

" **I assume that you've already gotten permission to break formation and move towards Reach?"** Allison asked Church.

"We received word a moment before you opened a channel to us," Church said.

 **"Then you'd better get on your way. While it hasn't been officially confirmed, we'd hate to cause a temporal anomaly that could start the end of the universe."** Before anyone could ask what she meant, the transmission ended.

Church turned to the Jedi and two clones, "If we are going to leave, it has to be now."

"We must contact the Order to inform them of our goings on. We would hate for them to follow us here after they don't hear from us, causing them to be destroyed in some sort of misunderstanding," said Obi-Wan.

Church took a moment to think it through. If they didn't report to their superiors then they'd send more people to investigate their appearance, primarily to this location, exposing the Halo and endangering the galaxy once more. "Very well. However, please refrain from mentioning the ring-world."

"Why should we-?" Anakin got out before he was cut off by his former master.

"That is acceptable," Obi-Wan replied.

Church nodded, "York, please take them to the transmissions room."

"Aye, sir," the tan clad soldier acknowledged.

"Ayame, chart a course for Reach as per Article One of the Cole Protocol."

"Already done, sir. I'm waiting on your command to move from our position," the AI replied as she reappeared once more on her place on the holotank.

XxXxXxX

 _Coruscant. Supreme Chancellor's office._

"Concerning, this is," the elderly Yoda said as he soaked in the information that he was just given. Inside the Supreme Chancellor's office were Jedi Master Mace Windu, the Supreme Chancellor, Admiral Yularen, and Grandmaster Yoda himself.

"On two fronts. Not only is an uncharted part of space patrolled by these unknown humans, but Padawan Tano injured in such a way," Mace added.

 **"They do say that they have the means to return her to full health,"** Obi-Wan reported over the secured holonet transmission.

"If this is true then this medical technology could help bring our clone troopers back into the fight faster," Palpatine stated.

"Have they made any hostile threats towards you?" asked Mace.

 **"Only when we first arrived and when Anakin lost his temper for a split second,"** Obi-Wan replied.

"And where would young Skywalker be?" Yoda asked.

 **"He insisted on staying with Padawan Tano."**

"Understandable, that is. And what of this United Earth Government, seek entrance to the Republic, do they?"

 **"They haven't expressed any interest to do so. They seem to have an alliance with another race or civilization, they were a bit unclear about that."**

"Perhaps we should send an envoy to express our interest in their joining the Republic as well as the benefits that they would be able to take part with in joining a larger galactic community?" Palpatine suggested. "Based on what you've told us about their ship designs alone they would be a formidable ally against the Separatists."

 **"I can approach them with the offer, but I doubt that they will go for it."**

"There is no harm in asking." Inwardly Palpatine hoped that these new humans would join his soon to be created Empire, their technology, assuming it does what they promised Kenobi, would help cement the place of his empire for centuries.

 **"I will try to get in contact once more after Padawan Tano has been healed."**

"Very well. May the Force be with you," Mace said as Obi-Wan's transmission ended.

The group then stayed and talked about different military campaigns that they were going to brief Palpatine about regardless. Meanwhile in the back of Palpatine's mind he had to now take extra precautions with this new entity entering the fray. He had no idea about them. They were wild cards. He would have to have them tested in order to ensure that his Empire rose as he and his now dead master had once foreseen for the Sith.

'Perhaps,' Palpatine thought. 'Yes, that will work nicely. Now to plan it down to the smallest detail to ensure it goes off without an issue.'

XxXxXxX

 _Bridge. Mother of Invention._

Church sat in his command chair on the bridge of his ship. It hadn't been that long after the carried transmission was sent through their systems before forwarding them to the Jedi cruisers still sitting at the edge of the Exclusion Zone.

"Ayame, did he reveal anything?" Church asked his holographic companion who appeared at her pedestal at the mention of her name.

"No, he upheld his part of the bargain," Ayame replied.

"Good."

"I thought you would like to know, Jedi Kenobi requested to come to the bridge."

"Did he mention why?" Church asked as he shifted in his chair. After all, sitting in the same place for a while gets uncomfortable.

"No, but I have the suspicion he wants to know more about the Halo. It's sort of just hanging out there and hard to ignore, in case you haven't noticed."

He stood up and walked towards the primary screen that showed the stern of the _Invention_ and the looming Halo just listing along in the gas giant's orbit as if it were nothing more than an super advanced construct instead of a weapon of mass extinction. "Permission to come on the bridge is granted, Ayame."

"Very well, I will let York know," she said as she disappeared from her pedestal once again.

Minutes passed before the doors at the back of the bridge opened and Obi-Wan walked in with his orange accented soldier following closely behind him with York following them a few feet behind them. "Captain, thank you for seeing me," Obi-Wan greeted.

Church stood up to greet them and nodded. "Of course. Tell me, what were you wanting to talk about?" Church asked.

Obi-Wan looked over towards the screen that Church had been looking at too not too long ago. "That. What is it? It's of a size that no other civilization has been able to construct."

Church sighed. Pretty much everyone in the UNSC knew what they were, even if they didn't understand the science behind them entirely. "That is Halo. It is an ancient construct built tens of thousands of years ago to serve a dual purpose: as science laboratories as well as a weapon."

Obi-Wan's eyebrows raised, "A weapon?"

"Yes, a weapon. When fired it releases a wave of radiation capable of wiping out constructs made with neural physics, as well as all sentient life in a twenty-five thousand light-years radius. And when fired in random with its sister rings when fired will wipe out all life in the galaxy."

Obi-Wan's eyes widened in horror. 'All sentient life?' "What kind of foe did these ancient beings face that would cause them to result to such extreme measures?"

Church paced towards the screen. "Before the rings were even built, our humanity fought a two-pronged war, one with the creators of the Rings named the Forerunners and a parasitic entity called the Flood. Our fight with the Forerunners was caused by a misunderstanding where we burned planets that the Flood was on in order to prevent it from spreading, to which they only slowed its progress. Due to fighting a two front war, humanity lost and the Flood retreated, but it would be seen lot long after when they went after the Forerunners in full force. As an absolute last resort they built the Halo array which would kill all of the Flood's food supply: all sentient life. We have very explicit orders to prevent anyone from using the rings unless under a extremely dire situation."

"Like if the Flood were to come back," Obi-Wan observed. "Why are they such a threat?"

"Because if even one spore is released into a population it will cause the death of everyone on the planet in less than a few days cycles of the planet."

When Obi-Wan thought about it, for some reason it made sense in terms of galactic history. It seemed as though around one hundred thousand years ago history was muddled to an extent. Sure, many historians knew the general history, but not all of it. "That clashes with what I know as history. Last I checked some historians can track accounts leading back around two hundred thousand years ago."

"It is possible that the entire array was not ironclad, leaving a pocket or two where they did not overlap like they were designed to do. Or the Forerunners missed somewhere when they ruled the galaxy," Ayame said, appearing on her holotank. "If 343 Guilty Spark and Mendicant Bias are anything to go by, the AI in charge of assisting in the setting up the positions of the array to maximize the coalescence effect could have been corrupted in some way causing some gaps where life would continue as it was before."

"That would make sense," Obi-Wan commented.

Ayame then turned to Church. "Our course is laid in and the drive is spun up."

"Good," Church replied before turning to Obi-Wan. "Unless you have any business to immediately attend to we can be on our way."

Obi-Wan looked up, pulling him from his thoughts. "No, I made my report to the Order," he replied.

Church turned to the crew, "Make weigh."

"Aye, aye, captain," Ayame replied. The _Invention_ turned so it found the space in between several mass shadows and leapt to lightspeed, the stars stretched and the vessel vanished to those still in real space. "Ten seconds until reemersion."

"Ten seconds?" Obi-Wan asked.

"We have our reasons," Church replied dismissively. "And the slipspace drive?"

"Already spun up," Ayame replied. They dropped out of hyperspace and before Obi-Wan could ask what was going on, something felt off in the Force as a dot appeared before the vessel in space before widening into a disc large enough to encompass the entire vessel. The center of the hole was as black as any black hole and it was ringed with an off purple-white light. "Slipspace portal is stable, shields are up, and all hangar doors have been sealed."

"Then take us in." The ship slowly moved towards the stationary, disc shaped black hole. Obi-Wan found it extremely odd that these people were going to go inside of a black hole, and the fact that they were able to create an artificial one right in front of his eyes. For some reason, Obi-Wan was not scared shitless at the fact that they were about to go inside a black hole, the Force was telling him that it was completely unnatural but safe, oddly enough. To say it was an odd feeling was an understatement.

After they passed through the singularity the entire inside was pitch black with only an odd light passing by. When Obi-Wan reached out with the Force, something felt odd. It was if the Force wasn't here at all. Sure, he could feel the people around him and on the ship, but outside of the ship he could sense nothing. It was like he himself was in a black hole in the Force. "What is this place?" Obi-Wan asked while slightly shivering.

"This is slipspace," Ayame replied from her pedestal.

"Slipspace? Don't you mean hyperspace?" Cody asked in confusion.

"No. Slipspace and hyperspace are two completely different methods of superluminal travel. While hyperspace is faster, it has innumerable faults like it can be intercepted by the use of gravity wells like a planet's natural gravity well or what we use: artificial gravity wells; slipspace, on the other hand, allows for slower superluminal travel depending on the layer of slipspace you're currently in but allows for the vessel traveling through to completely avoid all celestial objects due to being in another dimension parallel to ours."

"Interesting," Obi-Wan commented in amazement. 'A civilization that developed superluminal travel not through hyperspace, but through this new type all together.'

"ETA on arrival at Reach: 20 hours."

XxXxXxX

 _Reach, high orbit. 20 hours later._

The _Mother of Invention_ emerged from slipspace a few thousand kilometers from the communications zone, the zone at which all UNSC and allied ships had to transmit their IFF codes and their reason for being there. If a vessel did not transmit these two simple things within sixty seconds of entering the planet's orbit they would immediately be targeted by one of the many Orbital Defense Platforms around it. If the vessel proceeded to continue on a collision course towards an orbital installation or the planet itself without transmitting the required items still, then they would be fired upon across the bow. If they still didn't respond then they were to be fired upon by the ODP targeting them until the ship was destroyed. It was a simple process.

Thirty minutes before the _Invention_ came out of slipspace the preparations were made to move Ahsoka from the medbay to the hangar inside of the stasis field. They had to be careful for multiple reasons, one of which being that actually contacting the field from the outside is an extremely bad idea while it is active. The medical gurney had been secured to the Pelican's deck mere moments before they came out of slipspace. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, Cody, Church, Carolina, and York all filed into the Pelican's passenger compartment.

The pilot stepped out of her cockpit as the passengers were taking their seats. "Ok, keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times or else you might lose something important," she joked. "Please secure your harness so we can get under way. Thank you."

"Well, she's an odd one," Obi-Wan joked.

"You have no idea," York replied in a more serious manner.

The back hatch of the Pelican sealed shut with a hiss and the ventral hangar doors opened below. Anakin gave the UNSC soldiers an unsure glare as the restraints that held the Pelican in place were released with a small ***clank***. The engines went from their resting state to powering up to full power. Their whine filling the small cargo bay. The passengers felt themselves being pressed into their seats as the artificial gravity of the larger ship gave way to the artificial gravity inside of the much smaller Pelican. The crew then felt their weight shift to the back of the Pelican, their sides, left and right respectively as the Pelican accelerated towards the medical platform.

"Why are we going to this platform in particular?" Anakin asked.

"Because of the Zero-G surgical team on station," Church replied.

"Zero-G?"

"Yeah, the docs turn off the gravity for procedures that require more finesse and the lack of gravity helps when it comes to blood flow and not having to worry about it pooling where it shouldn't during the procedure," York replied. "A buddy of mine went through the same type of procedure years ago and he turned out fine, lost his voice because he got shot in the throat ten plus times, but he lived and is still serving today."

"Doesn't it get... messy?" Obi-Wan asked.

"If there wasn't an AI controlling a drone responsible for cleaning up and keeping the area sanitary, unbelievably so."

The rest of the flight was spent in silence. When they made the final approach Church moved up towards the cockpit and Obi-Wan, Anakin, Rex, and Cody were able to briefly see a set of two massive space stations. One of which had a huge tower on it and the other was like a blocky medical platform that the Republic had been using for a few years now to take care of injured clones. The big red cross on it gave the intent of the building's existence. The one with the large tower gave the sense of impending doom, therefore it had to have been a military installation.

The Pelican passed through the micron field and landed as light as a feather. The rear hatch opened and the medics attending to Ahsoka took the medical bed started moving the bed out into the very spacious bay. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and their clone troopers followed the two medics while a man in a black uniform of the same style that Church wore waited for him. Both men saluted to the other before they walked off to placed unknown to the group.

While Church went off to be debriefed by the ONI agent, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, Cody, and York followed the medical team towards the ICU. The medics were swift in their task and brought Ahsoka to operating room. They reached the door, to which the medics took their charge inside, but they were stopped by a surgeon. "I'm sorry, you can't go any further," a helmeted, scrubs clad doctor said to the Jedi and their clone companions.

"This way," York said as he took the four towards the observation room. He stopped outside the room which overlooked the operating room and turned to the four. "I should warn you, if you have weak stomachs, you might want to wait outside." Seeing as no one stepped back, "Ok then, don't complain to me if you don't like what you see."

XxXxXxX

 _Unknown time and place._

To Ahsoka everything went past in a blur. Everything sounded like it was being said through the thickest batch of bacta. She could hear echoes and barely heard conversations. Something about an operation being a success. Something about going down to the surface. None of it made sense to her. If it did she wouldn't be confused right now. There was something wrong with where she was currently. She felt... echoes, echoes of the dead. They were screaming in horror as they were killed in all manners of ways. She couldn't take it any more, all the death, all the suffering; it was too much for her.

Ahsoka shot up from the bed she was on breathing heavily while drenched in sweat. Once she calmed down enough to become coherent she noticed that she wasn't wearing her Jedi attire, but some kind of clothing consisting of pants and a shirt of the same color, that being teal. She also noticed that she had a needle in her arm that was connected to a clear bag of fluid. The next few minutes went by quickly as nurses fussed over her, checking for multiple things before they left her alone.

During that entire time she felt that her master was nearby and a few minutes after Anakin came inside of the room. He looked happy to see her. "Hey, Snips," he called out as he took a seat in an armchair next to the bed, "how are you feeling?"

"A little groggy and my back is a bit sore," she replied. "What happened?"

Anakin looked a bit distressed, weighing whether he should tell his apprentice or not the exact details. "When the people who boarded the trandoshan ship found you and took down the one holding you hostage, it dropped a modified thermal detonator and you were injured by the shrapnel from it," Anakin explained carefully.

"The last thing I remember was hitting a wall. What happened after that?"

"The people that found you, the UNSC, they brought you back to their ship and that's when we showed up. After entering an agreement with them they brought you to one of their medical facilities."

Ahsoka was confused, "Why didn't you take me to one of the Republic's medcenters?"

Anakin was once more conflicted. "You were... injured beyond our current capabilities to return you to as you were before. That, and we were at least a day or two away from an close Republic held system."

"So how bad was it?" she asked.

"Let's not think about it," Anakin replied all to quickly. "All that matters is that you're better now."

"I guess," Ahsoka replied dejectedly.

"Let's go take a walk, Rex has been pretty anxious in getting to see you," Anakin said as he stood up and walked over to his apprentice.

"Rex?" Ahsoka asked as she stood up. She wobbled a little, but Anakin kept her from falling on her face.

"Yeah, he's been getting a little antsy and that's been making our hosts a little more jumpy than they should be."

"Rex? Being antsy? You have to be talking about a different person," Ahsoka joked as they started to walk slowly out of the room.

"Believe what you want, but that's what I saw."

As they walked out of the hospital room they passed by a set of windows that let them see outside of the hospital itself. Outside she saw a group of black clad male and female humans running around a track while others were doing other workout related things. Beyond that she saw that parts of the landscape were lush and prestine, but others were dead and craggily, like glass. "Master, where are we, exactly?" Ahsoka asked.

"Some kind of world that the UNSC used for years as a jumping off point for their outer colonies as well as a military stronghold." Sensing his apprentice's next question, he continued. "A decade or so ago they were attacked by a xenophobic conglomerate of non-humans and the humans here were forced to flee or die, the conglomerate then turned the surface of the planet to glass as a kind of conquering mechanic. Apparently they've found a way to reclaim the beauty of the planet to what it looked like, although the science goes way above my head."

"So if it doesn't have anything to do with machines or fighting, you know nothing?" she joked playfully.

Anakin gave his apprentice a specific look out of the corner of his eye. "Careful Snips, maybe next time you damage your fighter I won't help you repair it," he countered in a just a joking manner, although he did leave the way he said it as it could go either way.

"You wouldn't do that, you like me too much."

They walked for a while until they met up with the rest of the small group that Anakin and Obi-Wan were able to bring with them in order to come with her to this planet owned by a different, previously undiscovered civilization in a small café still inside of the hospital. They chatted for a while about things like about the people that rescued her or the giant ring that they had seen. When she heard about the ring, something deep inside her made her feel cold once more. Before she could dwell on it more to the point where Anakin would have sensed through the Force her discomfort, a man in a uniform came up to them.

"Jedi and friends," Church greeted. "I'm glad to see that your friend is up and about."

"Very much so," Obi-Wan replied. "But I sense that you didn't come over here just to check up on us."

"You're right," Church said as he took off his hat and set it on the table before taking a seat. "As you might already know, we took a few trandoshan prisoners captive to be interrogated."

"You managed to interrogate a trandoshan?" Rex asked ambiguously. "I thought that was impossible."

"We have our ways," Church said mysteriously. "We managed to come upon some information that we thought would interest you. It turns out that your apprentice wasn't the only one that these oversized lizards had been picking up over the years." Obi-Wan was shocked, he had heard of some apprentices going missing over the years as well as their masters, but for what reason? Almost as if Church was psychic, he answered the unsaid question. "They had been using them for target practice, as objects to be hunted down and killed for sport."

"That's-," Ahsoka said in shock, realizing why she had been targeted in the first place.

"Despicable," Anakin finished, filling with righteous anger.

Church interrupted their next few thoughts by continuing, "It turns out we managed to also get the star chart location of where their 'hunting ground' is and the location of their ringleader as well as where he too is located."

 **To be continued?**

XxXxXxX

 **That's all I have for this one. Yes it was a long one and I sort of fell apart there at the end, running out of ideas for a single pilot chapter where-as I could have left a few cliffhangers in a chaptered story. Now I am considering writing this one in full, however I don't want to feel like or seem like I am copying others who have done the same. Maybe in the future I will do that. Plus, I do have a lot of stories right now I either have still in my mind or a lot that I have yet to still continue. I can think of a few that fit that category.**

 **As you might have read, there were quite a few RvB references there. You can consider those characters and ship names to be quasi-crossover material. The only character that I own out of this entire chapter is Ayame. She is mine.**

 **How I imagine this entire story playing out, assuming that I do actually do it, is that the UNSC and the Alliances they've made will be forced to enter the Clone Wars due to some attack caused by the Separatists who managed to follow a UNSC ship one way or another and attack the colony it travels to, the UNSC responds. They then participate in the war while dodging the Republic's attempts to draw them in to the Republic and the cesspool of corruption that is in there (there are a few good people in there, but you have to admit there's a lot of corruption in the Republic). That will put Palpatine in quite a pickle as he will have to recalculate his plans and the interference of the UNSC in his little war will cause things to backfire in a way for him that leaves some people that would be dead alive and others alive, dead. Fun stuff to think about.**

 **All I can really leave off with here is for you to tell me what your opinions on this one were and if I really should continue this one. Again, as always, constructive criticism will be read and listened to while flames and troll-like comments will be ignored/snapshotted and deleted so I and a friend can laugh at them later.**

 **Until next time!**


	10. A GTAVxNaruto pilot (Fox of Los Santos)

**(Please note that this is a backup copy of the original pilot posted to "The Fox of Los Santos". A story using a different set of plot points and elements is being developed, however I have decided to repost it here in my Oneshots repository as both a backup and a reminder of how far I have come. Plus, there is a high chance that the end product may not resemble the same things that I started with here.)**

 **Hello there everyone who is reading this story. If you have come into this story just to see what it's all about then I thank you greatly. Now before I begin I would like to say that this story will take place after the Sasuke retrieval arc and will go from there. Now you may be thinking that this beginning is pretty cliché since there are an abundance of the banishment from Konoha stories, and you're right as there are a lot of these stories that start like this. All that I ask is that you don't judge this until you at least finish the chapter first, after that tell me what you think. As for the story content itself I am seeing a lack of GTA V crossovers and thought that I'd contribute to the "cause" as it were. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the story. If it is not your cup of tea, please just hit that back button (or Alt + left arrow key). No flames or hate as they will be ignored, constructive criticism will always be welcomed. The pairing for Naruto is undecided on whether I want to go with one of the girls from the Naruto-verse or Michael's daughter or even an OC character. Than and this is a plotbunny currently.**

XxXxXxX

"Dialogue"  
'Thoughts'  
 **'Internal Biju dialogue'**  
 _'Character narrating/speaking inside of a flashback to his audience'_  
" **Chidori!()** " – Technique with translation or translation shortcut  
Thing () - Author's note included at the end of chapter for explanations  
 **[Specific event start/end flags]**  
 **(Optional music start/stop cues)**

XxXxXxX

 **Disclaimer: I own no recognizable characters, places, events. I only own my computer, my Word copy, any original settings, and any OC's of mine that decide to pop up every so often. IF someone is making money off of this fic then shame on them. Do not repost this story on other sites without my express permission.**

 **Warning: This is rated M for GTA reasons.**

 **Enjoy.**

XxXxXxX

Prologue (Pilot): No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

 **Michael's house, Los Santos**

Three men of varying ages sat around a pool, relaxing as they drank their beer celebrating their jewelry store heist. One is a middle aged white man with brown hair, the second is an African-American male in his mid to late twenties, and the last man in the group is a male in his early to mid-twenties with spiky blonde hair and looks to have a mixture of Asian and European heritages. The oldest of the three is Michael De Santa, or Michael Townley depending on who you ask, and the second is Franklin Clinton; but "who is this third person?" one may ask.

"So Whiskers," Franklin speaks up. "What's with the ink?"

If one were to take a closer look at the blonde's partially exposed body one would see black inked tattoo-like markings on his arms, torso, and legs which share a similarity in image with chains. The blonde sighs, "Well Frank it's a long story and the reason I'm in this city."

"You a former convict or something?"

"I guess you could say something like that," he replied as he sat up straighter. "Have either of you heard of the Dragon's Triangle?"

"I've heard rumors about that place," Michael answers. "It's supposed to be eerily similar to Bermuda Triangle, but in the Sea of Japan. Rumors say that some things that pass into it are never seen again."

"You mean ships and planes go missing there too?" Franklin asks.

"Amongst other things," the blonde cryptically adds.

"And this is related to your ink, how?"

The blonde took a long swig of beer and sighed, "It's a bit of a long story, a story that spans close to ten years. Do you think you have time to hear it?"

Michael looks at his watch, "Amanda's not getting home for a while yet, sure."

The blonde leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, "It all started around ten years ago and I was known by another name back then: Naruto Uzumaki-."

 **[Flashback start]**

 _'I am originally from a place called Konohagakure no Sato, shortened by its inhabitants as Konoha, or even as the Leaf. It was a day like any other day. The sun was shining, the forest brimming with life around the city. I was a soldier in this village, a genin.'_

 _'Hold on a second,' Franklin interrupted. 'You were a soldier at…" he paused for a moment trying to guess "Naruto's" age; 'Thirteen?'_

 _'I was. And if you'll let me continue,' Naruto answered and Franklin gave him a wave. 'Thank you. Now this day was like any others. I woke up, got dressed, and ate breakfast just like every morning for the thirteen years of my life before. But this specific day was different. I was called into the Hokage's office, the military leader of our village, where I was given disturbing news.'_

"What do you mean Sasuke defected!?" the thirteen-year-old Naruto shouted at the woman who he would later learn was distantly related to him (1).

"If you listened the first time you would know already," Tsunade shouted back sounding very frustrated. "Last night Sakura came upon him while wandering around the village after hours. After saying that he was going to leave to follow Orochimaru-."

 _'Orochimaru? The fuck's that guy?' Michael asked._

 _'He is forever known as the "Traitorous Snake Bastard of Konoha." He was infamous once it was discovered he performed inhumane experiments on orphaned children from both the Third Shinobi war and the Nine-Tailed demon attack years prior,' Naruto answered._

 _'Like?' Franklin asked._

 _'Frank, I'll only say this once. You don't want to know,' Naruto responded coldly._

"-Orochimaru for his promise of power," Tsunade said. "He then placed Sakura in an illusion and left with Orochimaru's elite Sound Four less than a few hours ago."

"Then we have to go get him!" Naruto shouted, Tsunade smirked.

"I was hoping you'd say that. A team has already been constructed and you'll be joining it. Your orders are to detain Uchiha Sasuke for treason. You are to bring him back by any means necessary. Are we clear?"

Naruto paused for a moment. That could mean killing one of his only friends and teammates. "Yes, ma'am," he said reluctantly.

 _'Wait a second did she mean what I think she means?' Michael asked._

 _'She did. I may have had to kill one of my best friends that day,' Naruto replied._

"You have a half hour to get the things you need for the mission," Tsunade stated before Shizune ushered Naruto out.

 _'I gathered what weapons I owned and headed to the main gate where the rest of the retrieval team was gathered. We were hours behind, but luck was on our side. They weren't expecting a pursuing team this quickly and had taken it slow so one of the most delicate yet perverse transformations could take place where Sasuke's very soul was altered to fit Orochimaru's agenda. We traveled for hours at our fastest speeds. Eventually we came to Orochimaru's forces late in the day and many of my friends fought one of the five people that escorted Sasuke. I would later learn that most of my friends almost died that day if medics hadn't intervened. Eventually Sasuke's transformation was complete and he and I battled. One of us fought for country and the other fought for his own power in the Valley of the End, a place where the first Hokage and the then head of the Uchiha clan fought over who would become the leader of the village. We battled for hours it seemed like. I used my signature techniques like the Shadow Clone and he used his family bloodline trait (2) to counter. Eventually we had to delve into what could be considered demonic by any standards.'_

 _'Demonic?' Franklin asked._

 _'Hours after I was born I had the Nine-Tailed demon fox sealed inside my body. I am a jinchurikki, a human sacrifice. I am his jailer, and he my prisoner. I hold back the very force that would destroy the village that sealed him inside both me and my mother before me. For me it is self-explanatory, I used a power that was not of this world. When fully manifested the Nine-Tails' tail could level an entire mountain in a single swish of its tail.' The two paled at the thought of something like that manifesting in either Liberty City, Los Santos, or in any country for that matter. 'I see you have a general idea of how powerful the being is. As for Sasuke he was using an incomplete technique called Senjitsu, using the power of Nature itself. However this was not his power, it was given to him by Orochimaru through the Curse Mark on his neck._

 _'From what I was able to gather from one of his other surviving experiments she said that the more you use it, the more that it takes a hold of your mind, driving you towards the agenda of the one that placed it in the first place. It is a great power, but one that makes you lose a bit of your humanity one use at a time.'_

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as the chakra cloak of the Nine-Tailed fox flowed around him with three tail-like constructs waving behind him in a non-existent wind. "You're coming back, whether you like it or not!" A clone appeared next to him, assisting in the formation of the Rasengan (3).

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted as held a fist full black and silver tinted lightning in front of him, charging at Naruto. Naruto launched from his perch, his purple tinted Rasengan in front of him. Their techniques hit head on, Sasuke's fist going through Naruto's chest and out his back while Naruto's technique landed in Sasuke's stomach, flinging him into the canyon wall knocking him clean out. As for Naruto, he laid under the cloud-ridden sky, bleeding out from the hole in his chest that only barely missed his heart.

 _'It was minutes later where my Jonin-sensei Kakashi found us. He performed emergency medical procedures on me, as I was the one bleeding out. Once I was stable enough not to die traveling back to the village he attended to Sasuke. He was able to replace the seal that he placed in the Curse Mark in the first place for transport. I slipped into a coma and didn't awaken for a week. When I eventually did awaken I thought I would be seen as a hero, I brought back the Uchiha that tried to betray the village to the Snake Bastard; but instead I was quite surprised at what happened next. I was greeted by my teammate Sakura, who I made a promise to bring back Sasuke if it was the last thing I did.'_

"Hey Sakura, how are you?" Naruto asked sleepily.

She walked over quickly to his bed only to slap Naruto, which woke him up quite quickly. "How DARE you hurt my Sasuke!" she shouted with tears in her eyes. "I told you to bring him back, not to hurt him!"

"Sakura, he was DEFECTING. He could have easily killed you instead of placing you in a genjutsu for being in his way. Tsunade-baachan-."

 _'Baachan?' Franklin asked._

 _'Roughly translated mean "Grandma" or "granny",' Naruto replied._

 _'You call the leader of your village "grandma"?' Michael asked._

 _'It was a nickname. I would learn later that it was quite legitimized.'_

"-told me to bring him back at any costs. I was following orders. If you want the reasons behind her decision I would talk to her," Naruto replied.

 _'You see Sakura, along with many other girls in the village were obsessed with the "Last Loyal Uchiha." Mainly because he was the last of his line in the village as his brother slaughtered his entire clan years prior. This led him to have a cold outlook on people in general, obsessing on revenge on his older brother. They all wanted to be the next "Lady Uchiha" or one of his lovers thanks to the Clan Restoration Act,' Naruto started to explain._

 _'Clan Restoration Act?' Michael asked._

 _'For men it's a dream come true. Once you turn the legal age of either sixteen, or become a chunin, whichever comes first, you can marry as many girls as you want. The caveat is that you must produce a child within a year from at least one if not more of the women married to you. In other words it's a legal legitimized harem. For women though if they're the last of their line is a living hell. If they already have a marriage contact negotiated by their parents before their demise then they're pretty well safe from the act. However if they aren't, once they have their first menstruation cycle they're taken to an undisclosed location where they are turned into breeding stock, baby factories, baby vending machines. Take your pick. It's a living hell.' Both men blanched and paled. Michael especially as he has a daughter._

 _'And this is LEGAL?' Michael asked._

 _'It was originally drawn up by the Nandime Hokage after the Second Shinobi War. It was a means to an end. However the Civilian Oversight Committee, or the Civilian Council, manipulated the wording allowing for those atrocities to take place. Before I left my country I read up on some of the redacted files located in Tsunade's safe. It was said that any woman that was taken didn't last longer than her second child. The first was taken away once it was weaned, causing postpartum depression. Once they could become pregnant again a "lottery" sponsored by the Civilian Council would be held where those who were seen as worthy could then fuck the poor women in the program to their heart's content, usually by multiple men at a time to ensure impregnation. Once pregnant again the cycle would start again. Impregnation, nine months of pregnancy, birth, weaning, separation, repeat. Most women took their own lives by whatever means were available to them. Hanging, slitting wrists with shanks, overdosing on sleep medications, you name it.'_

 _'That's-," Franklin said._

 _'Horrible? Yes, it was. It was later that the Nandime found out what was going on and abolished the act on the female side of things seeing that it was doing more harm than good. The Civilian Council covered their tracks quite well, misleading the Hokage making him believe that these women were being artificially inseminated in comfortable conditions and kept away from the public on a property in a remodeled practice field where they were kept safe from other villages that would want to steal them away for their children and the bloodlines they contain. Many minor clans that still exist in the village to this day were a product of this horrid act such as the Yamanaka, of which a classmate of mine Ino, was from. As I said though, the male form still exists to this day, however hadn't been enacted due to not needing to be. At least until Sasuke became legal age. If I had been allowed to stay in the village I probably would have been a part of it too.'_

 _'You?' Michael asked._

 _'I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but back on track. Anyway, Sakura left in a fit. It was hours before anyone visited me at all. My tutor Jiraiya-sensei showed up and we talked for a bit before he said something very disturbing to me.'_

"Naruto, something has happened," the perverted sage said sadly. "I can't tell you what it is, but you should know that Tsunade, a mass majority of your classmates, Kakashi and the other Jonin-sensei, and I were against it."

"What are you talking about, ero-sennin?" Naruto asked, rightfully confused. "What's going on?"

"Like I said, I can't tell you at this point in time; but I have a feeling that you will know shortly."

"Is Uzumaki-san able to travel?" a muffled voice came from outside the hospital room's door.

"The 'demon'-child is able to go," a female voiced outside as well.

"I thank you for your assistance." The doorknob twisted and inside came three ANBU agents. "Uzumaki Naruto, you are hereby under arrest for the aggravated assault and attempted murder of Uchiha Sasuke. You have the right to remain silent, anything you do and say WILL be used against you in the court of law," the lead agent said as one of the other two came around and cuffed Naruto's wrists with chakra suppressing cuffs. "You have the right to an attorney, if you can't afford one one will be appointed for you. Do you understand your rights?" (4)

"What the hell is going on!?" Naruto shouted. "Ero-sennin?"

"I'm sorry, Naruto. There's nothing I can do," Jiraiya said solemnly.

 _'You were arrested for following orders?' Franklin asked Naruto nodded. 'That's fucked up, man.'_

 _'Indeed,' Naruto replied. 'But as it was said, Tsunade didn't approve. While I was out the Council put together a kangaroo court with a jury, prosecutor, and defense attorney that all had it out for me in multiple ways from relatives lost in the Kyuubi attack to people I've pranked over the years.'_

 _'People you've pranked over the years? Isn't that a bit excessive?'_

 _'Not when you make their bottom line a bunch of negative numbers when they overcharge you for something that's beyond your control. Anyway for the next three days I spent my time inside a dark dank cell with only water to drink and a loaf of bread to last me an entire day. Then my court date came. I didn't get any rest at all and if I was to describe myself I would say that I looked like I went on a three day bender and was recovering from a hangover. The prosecution brought all my friends and classmates to the stand, all of them talked about me in a positive light, but the lawyer spun what they said, but it's not like they really needed to, considering what kind of people were on the jury. Eventually it came to the verdict, the trial didn't last even three hours. The jury left and came back less than ten minutes later. I already knew what the verdict was.'_

"Mr. Foreman, how do you find the defendant?" Danzo, the head judge asked.

"Your honors, we the jury find the defendant guilty of assault and attempted murder of a fellow Konoha shinobi," the civilian shop owner stated with a fiendish smile on his face.

"Very well," he said with an equally fiendish smile. "Uzumaki Naruto, you are hereby sentenced to banishment from Konoha and Fire Country." There was an uproar from the shinobi teams that knew Naruto was innocent as well as all of the Jonin-sensei of those squads. Danzo started pounding the gavel, "ORDER! THERE WILL BE ORDER IN THIS COURTROOM!" Naruto's supporters, while disgruntled, quieted down. "You have twenty-four hours to leave the village and a month to leave the country. As you have been dishonorably discharged from Konoha's shinobi forces your chakra will be sealed, making you unable to use your chakra." There was more uproars from Naruto's friends, but the court was adjourned and Naruto lead back out of the courtroom.

 _'I was let out several hours later under heavy guard, after a particularly excruciating ritual sealing that took away my ability to manipulate chakra. I still have it, but can't use it without feeling excruciating pain as if I were being tortured.'_

 _'What was it like, having that power and then losing it?' Michael asked._

 _'I was able to run easily a mile in a little over a minute. It was like driving a Zentorno and then being forced to drive an electric golf cart. I wasn't even able to walk faster than an elderly person with hip problems. It was one of my more pitiful moments in life. I was lead to my shitty-ass apartment, which was nothing more than a smoldering pile of timber. It turns out during the sealing the villagers decided to burn down my apartment complex to "oust the demon". I was left with nothing. I spent the rest of the day saying my goodbyes to my friends who I would most likely never see again. All of them were saddened by my forced banishment and really did feel bad that they couldn't do anything to overturn it.'_

 _'Why didn't you try to appeal it?' Franklin asked._

 _'That would have taken months that I didn't have. The village wanted me out so I said: "fuck them". I mean I cherish my friends that I left behind, but those villagers made my life a living hell. If they were killed by a mass maniac murderer I wouldn't give two shits about it,' Naruto replied. Meanwhile, in the boonies, a very specific Canadian psychopath sneezed. 'I didn't bother to wait the twenty-four hour period. I headed for the gate but was stopped by Tsunade, Jairaya, and Kakashi.'_

"Naruto, you know that we don't approve of what the Civilian Council did, right?" Tsunade asked.

"I know. But fuck them. Thanks to them I don't even have money let alone a way to defend myself on the road to wherever," Naruto replied disheartened.

"ANBU, leave us," Tsunade commanded the two on Naruto's flanks.

"But Lady Tsunade, Danzo-sama was very explicit in his instructions-," the agent replied in a monotone.

"And if you can think that Naruto can do ANYTHING to me or Lord Jiraiya as a civilian then you are greatly overestimating him. Either leave or you can find yourselves cleaning latrines for the next six months." The two looked at each other and left quickly. "Now Naruto, the reason that it took so long for you to go on trial right away was because I stalled them. Now before you ask why I let you stay there in that hell hole for three days was because I was liquidating your family's assets into pure gold sealed into this scroll," she said as she held out a nondescript scroll.

"My family?" a confused Naruto asked.

"Take these as well," Jiraiya added as he held out two more scrolls. One had the emblem seen on the backs of the chunin and jonin flak jackets, the other was one was one he had never seen before. "They belonged to your father and mother, this is their last will and testament." Naruto moved to open it, but Jiraiya reached over and stopped him. "Do not open them here, once you find a safe place away from the village, open them. The seal placed on you won't let you do any jutsu but will allow you to open sealing scrolls. Do know while what happened to you was wrong, your parents loved you very much in the little time they knew you." Naruto only nodded.

"Naruto," Kakashi said as he came forward. "As you know the samurai of Iron Country don't use chakra, yet are able to take on shinobi as if they were their equal with their kenjutsu skills. In light of your chakra being sealed, I give you this to hopefully give you the protection you need on the road." From behind him, he pulled a beautifully made katana. It had a black sheath with a golden guard, the grip was wrapped in red leather. (5) "This was the blade wielded by your mother whose misnomer was 'Benihime'. I entrust it to you and hope you use it well," he said as he held it in his hands waiting for Naruto to take it.

"I will," Naruto said as he took it. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei." He pulled the sword out slightly just enough to see the blade's edge and saw the same spiral insignia that was on the second of the three scrolls, the same on the flak jackets of Konoha. He assumed that the scroll would explain the stamping in the metal. He donned the sword on his back getting a look of approval from all three older ninja present.

"Naruto, Konohamaru wasn't able to see you off due to the current state of the village, but he wanted me to give you these," Kakashi continued before holding out a pair of familiar goggles. "I know you left him these when you gained your haite-ate, but as you've lost it he thought that you should have it back and that it would serve you better as you traveled."

He took them and placed them on his head where his headband once called home. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei, please give Konohamaru my thanks."

"I will."

"If I may have one last request, can you make sure that my haite-ate makes its way back to Iruka-sensei? It was his to begin with and it would be a dishonor if it wasn't returned to him."

"It will be done as soon as I return to my office," Tsunade replied.

"Thank you." Naruto turned around and looked at the monument that immortalized the faces of the four previous Hokage and sighed. "Well, I guess I'll never be able to have my face on the side of a mountain."

"I guess not," Jiraiya said. "What will you do now. "Where will you go now?"

Naruto thought for a moment, "I guess I could always go back to Tsunami, Inari, and the old drunken bridge builder's place in the Wave. I know it only took three days to get there at civilian speeds so I'd meet the second ludicrous requirement of being out of the country in a month way before the deadline."

"I wish you luck, gaki,(6)" Jiraiya said as he shook the blonde's hand.

"Naruto, you were like the little brother I should have paid more attention to, I'm sorry," Kakashi said as hung his head down in shame.

While Naruto was confused at Kakashi's words he didn't get a chance to think about them before he was caught in a hug that would put a bear to shame. "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to protect you," Tsunade said with tears in her eyes. "While we may not be able to travel with you in person, we are with you in spirit. May Kami bless you in your endeavors."

"I guess I'll see you guys around someday," Naruto said hopefully. He pulled out a black stick with a big red button on the end of it. "I was hoping I would be able to use this someday, on a happier event though I digress." He pressed the button and around the village orange paint bombs exploded in certain civilian shops and homes, including the homes of the elders on the civilian council, causing hundreds of thousands of Ryo in property damage. "My last hurrah. I was going to use this as my prank for when I graduated, but instead went with painting the monument instead."

"Well you should probably get going before they start calling for your head," Tsunade stated dryly.

"They aren't already?"

 **[Flashback end]**

"After that, I traveled a fair distance before opening the scrolls. Remember how I said that if I were allowed to remain in the village I would have been forced to take part in the CRA?" Naruto asked.

"Yes?" Michael asked warily, he was on his fifth glass of scotch.

"In these wills they named me the last heir to the Uzumaki and Namikaze bloodlines. If this had been discovered the night of my birth, which was kept a secret except a few trustworthy people knew my parentage, I would have either become a 'stud horse' in the CRA or I would have been forced into a loveless marriage."

"Hold up a minute," Franklin stated. "If this Tsunade person liquidated all of your family's assets into gold, why the hell are you pulling heists with people like us?"

"That, my friends, is because I want to," Naruto said cryptically as took a sip of his own drink. "What to hear what happens next?" he said with his trademark foxlike grin.

 **To be continued?**

XxXxXxX

 **There we go, the first chapter is done. First of all, notes!**

 **1\. Rasengan, or Spiraling Sphere. An A-ranked technique that uses the physical manifestation of the user's chakra as a sphere of energy that rotates randomly inside causing damage to the target of the attack on contact. Elemental chakra may be added to form an even more devastating technique.**

 **2\. Gaki, or brat. For Jiraiya this is a term of endearment for Naruto.  
3\. As you know Tsunade is the granddaughter of the first Hokage, who was in fact married to Mito Uzumaki, so that easily makes Naruto her grandnephew if not second or third cousin through Kushina.**

 **4\. Note that Kekkai Genkai means nothing to Franklin and Michael as neither know Japanese, however a bloodline trait that's passed down does as it makes more sense for the vernacular.**

 **5\. Now why did I use the Miranda Rights? Well the Civilian Council wants to make this as legally airtight as possible, regardless how wrong it is. Plus we never see a court session in Konoha nor any of the other villages, so chalk that up to creative freedom.**

 **6\. The sword I describe is the blade from Ninja Gaiden, or at least the one when I googled "Hayabusa sword" in Google's image search.**

 **So whaddya think? Follow and fave if you want to see what happens next in this plotbunny. Flamers will be ignored but constructive criticism will be listened to. Until whenever I update this next, have a good one.**


	11. A SWxNaruto pilot (Demon's Homecoming)

**(As with the previous "chapter" that I posted in here this is also a backup of the pilot for my story "The Demon's Homecoming". As at the current time I have no idea what I am going to do with that story [ie abandoning it or reorganizing it altogether] I am posting the pilot of said story here just in case I do intend to abandon it. For right now that story is in the "I have no idea where this is going" category. So just in case I'm just going to put it here as a backup copy.)**

 **Hey there guys, I got another plotbunny for you! *Dodges things thrown by followers* Hey. HEY! Calm down. Due to the excitement I'm having for** ** _The Force Awakens_** **I couldn't get this idea outside of my head, which hopefully once this goes up I'll be able to focus on my two other popular stories and update those (SHAMELESS PLUG: Go check out "Didn't See That Coming" and "A Wizard with a Rulebook"). But seriously, I'm a huge _Star Wars_ nerd, I have been since I was a child; which to me makes the whole Disney acquisition of the _Star Wars_ IP as well as the removal of the Expanded Universe saddening for me. I loved those books that I burned through as a teen from my library. Mara Jade, Kyle Katarn, and Corran Horn were all favorite characters of mine. **

**So things. This story's pilot chapter was inspired by a story that was deleted from this site not too long ago called "Righteous Fury" and its rewrite "Righteous Fury V2" by Ornstein the Dragon Slayer** **(** user id: 4875004 **) that was a Halo/Naruto cross where Naruto joins the Covenant after being taken in by Rtas 'Vadum and later comes back to his homeworld after the events of _Halo 3_. It was a cool concept story and I enjoyed it. Too bad it's gone, oh well. Otherwise, I would have given credit and plugged it directly. **

**Gray Jedi/Sith!Naruto – He is neither Jedi nor Sith, just a guy serving the balance of the Force. While he may use his powers for his own gain, he does believe that power should also be used to not create Force tears as they go against nature, like when the Death Star destroyed Alderaan. If anything he's closer to the Jensaarai, the not-quite-Sith-but-definitely-not-Jedi group. In other words, you piss him off and he'll kill you; be civil and he'll be civil towards you.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my laptop. _Star Wars_ belongs to Disney, unfortunately; and _Naruto_ belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Viz Media. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All original characters, unless otherwise noted, belong to me.**

XxXxXxX

"Speaking."

'Thinking.'

 **"Things said over com devices."**

XxXxXxX

 _Executor. High Orbit, unnamed planet._

The dark lord of the Sith Darth Vader stared out of the viewport at the garden-class planet below his command ship. The Force had led him here, in fact, it pulled him here like a moth to a flame. While the Jedi would continuously state that the Force guided their actions, so did the Sith to an extent. He had remembered that during his tenure as a Jedi there was this controversial Master who stated in his Holocron, 'That all Force-sensitives have power. Power means nothing if it is not wielded. However, it is our actions that define whether we are Jedi or Sith, not emotions or attachments like both Jedi and Sith Codes state.'

Wise words from a long dead Master. He had arrived in-system mere minutes ago. While the crew was working silently in an attempt to not join the body count that Vader had made of bridge crew and other soldiers that had disappointed the Sith lord one too many times, they all were silently wondering why they were in this backwater system on the edge of the Outer Rim and the Unknown Regions. All that could be heard were the sounds of beeping terminals and the Sith's assisted breathing.

"Commander," Vader's deep voice rang through the bridge. "Prepare a shuttle and a squad."

"It will be done, my lord," the commander fearfully replied. One does not survive on Vader's flagship by disobeying orders.

As the Dark lord exited the bridge and the doors of the Sith's private turbolift closed there was a collective sigh of relief. They all got to live one more day on this largest warship in the Empire.

Back with Vader, as he entered the main hangar bay the Sith was 'greeted' by a squad from his personal unit designated 'Vader's Fist', in other words, the 501st. As he approached the Lambda-class shuttle the Stormtroopers stood at the ramp at attention. He walked past them and said, "With me." Moments later the shuttle left the bay and flew towards the planet, all towards the one individual that the Force guided Vader towards.

XxXxXxX

Six-year-old Naruto Uzumaki was not a happy child, in fact, he couldn't remember a time that he WAS happy. The fact that it was his birthday, which coincided with the sixth annual Kyuubi Festival, was made worse by the fact he had been outrunning angry mobs all day. The last five years in the orphanage that he had lived in under less than pleasant conditions kept him inside from the yearly festival while the other children got to go out and enjoy the festivities, this year though he was thrown out on the streets to fend for himself. His first winter he almost didn't make it if it weren't for the fact that he snuck into the boiler room of the Ninja Academy to stay warm. While it seldom ever snowed in Konoha (1), temperatures in winter did get low enough for street rats like him to get hypothermia and die if no source of heat was found. Finding food, on the other hand, was difficult. He would dig in dumpsters when he couldn't find spare ryo laying around on the ground. Visiting ninja from other villages on diplomatic missions as well as participants in Konoha hosted Chunin Exams, as they rotated and were held several times a year, took pity on him sometimes and gave him pocket money that he'd spend at the Ichiraku Ramen Stand.

Now it was night and his underfed six-year-old body was tiring out after being chased by both drunken civilians and disgruntled ninja alike. If he were paying attention close enough to not die he would have heard what sounded like a low hum above that stopped outside the village. He didn't know it yet, but his life was about to change forever on a path he would have never foreseen.

XxXxXxX

Meanwhile a kilometer outside a primitive city's walls the Lambda shuttle landed with some dust kicked up. Several hisses later a ramp lowered from the craft, already walking down it was Vader followed by twelve Stormtroopers. "Defend this shuttle," he said to the group before pointing to two of his Stormtroopers. "You two, with me."

"Milord," they both replied in unison.

They followed their commanding officer until they reached large wooden gates. On them were markings similar in design, yet foreign to Aurebesh that the galaxy was fluent in. When they entered the gate two weak Force-sensitives tried to stop them, but Vader clenched his fist, choking the two with the Force until they were rendered unconscious as it would cause more problems when if they were discovered dead. Vader could sense many Force-sensitive beings in the center of the city, but he led his soldiers down alleyways until he found what he was looking for.

"Kill the demon spawn!" a shrill voice shouted, one that annoyed the Sith.

Meanwhile, others were beating a child with their hands and feet, while others held bladed weapons. One was about the stab the child in the heart when it was pulled from their grasp, in fact, all of their weapons were taken from them. In the confusing silence, all they heard was electronically assisted breathing coming from behind the mob. They were shocked when they saw that their weapons were floating in front of an imposing looking black armored man; behind him were slightly shorter, yet still imposing looking white armored men holding what looked like the recently developed guns used in certain prisons run by civilians.

To their amazement and horror, he crushed the weapons into lumps of metal, which shocked some of the Genin and Chunin in attendance as some of the weapons were made of chakra conductive metal which was harder than normal steel. "Pathetic," the Sith stated. To the primitive humans of this planet they trembled in fear at the sound of the Sith's voice, his aura filled with anger and hatred. "Move."

While the more sensible of the group stood aside, some extremely stubborn and stupid members of this city's military stood defiantly in front of the Sith. "You'll have to go through us if you want the demon spawn," one stated before getting in a fighting stance.

"As you wish," Vader ominously replied. He reached out with the Force and started to choke the defiant ones, the ninja grasping at their throats trying to get the invisible hand to release them lifting them up in the air like marionettes before tossing them aside violently into the walls. The Stormtroopers and bystanders heard some of the ninjas' bones break from the impact.

Vader walked over to the downed boy, the crowd parting to let him and his two troopers through. He used the Force to study the youngling on the ground. The Force aura the boy contained was much more powerful than both Vader and his master. Meanwhile, the deafening silence was being filled with Vader's mechanical breathing. "Why did you stop them, mister?" the boy asked. "Do you wish to kill me too?"

"No. The Force brought me here to find you... to train you," Vader replied.

"Train me? As a ninja?" he asked excitedly though he was injured.

"No, in the ways of the Force. I shall train you like my master trained me like his master before him."

"Y-you can't train the demon!" the same pink haired woman from earlier screeched.

"And why not?" Vader asked in more irritation than curiosity.

"B-because he'll kill us all, just like it did to many of our family and friends six years ago!"

Under his mask, Vader narrowed his eyes at the boy and guessed that he was around six solar cycles old. "Are you suggesting that a newborn was able to kill your friends and family?" he asked scrupulously.

"Yes! He's the demon incarnate and-!"

Vader clenched his fist, destroying the pink haired banshee's larynx with the Force. "Then you are a weak-minded fool." He then turned to the boy, "Do wish for power, power to rule over this filth and make them bow to your will?"

"Where would I learn of this power?" the boy asked.

"Not from these primitive wastes of life," Vader bluntly replied.

Not even a second passed before the boy answered, "Yes, I want power."

Vader then reached for his lightsaber, the Stormtroopers expecting him to kill the boy. However, he handed the lightsaber to the boy instead, igniting the crimson plasma blade with the Force. "Then it is time for your first lesson: kill them."

"What?" the boy asked with a confused look.

"Sith do not allow others to walk over them, make them pay for what they did to you this night. Show them the power of the Dark Side of the Force." He then turned to his two escorts, "Allow none of them to escape."

"Yes, milord!" they replied in unison.

The boy slowly approached the crowd of civilians that had purposely tried to kill him, influenced by alcohol or not. "Channel your anger and your hate, let it flow through you," Vader calmly said. Those on the other side of the humming crimson blade backed up towards the walls of one of the houses of the Red Light District in fear, while the weapon that the boy was holding was flashy and had never been seen by any of them before, they knew it could kill them easily. They saw the boy's eyes change from their startling and caring deep sky blue to his right being a sulfuric yellow and the other blood red with a slitted cornea (2), like a snake or other predatory animal.

Vader watched on in approval with his arms crossed as his new potential apprentice slaughtered the ones who would have killed him, their screams drowned out by the festival's fireworks exploding in the air. A few tried to run, but his Stormtroopers shot them with their E-11 blaster rifles in their knees, allowing the potential young Sith to kill them. Finally, the final one fell, the one whose voice box that Vader had destroyed, her head rolling away from her body with fear and horror eternally etched onto her face.

Vader turned off the lightsaber and Force pulled it back into his grasp. "You have done well, my apprentice," Vader said as his new apprentice kneeled before him like he had done with his master, Darth Sidious. "What is your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, master," the boy, now named Naruto, replied with respect.

"From now on, in my presence, you will be known as… Siqsa (3). Come, you have much to learn." The two Sith, accompanied by the two Stormtroopers left the alley and the village, leaving only severed corpses and crumpled bodies behind in the alley. Vader and his new apprentice boarded the Lambda shuttle and the boarding ramp closed just as a group of Force-sensitives surrounded the shuttle all dressed in black clothing and their faces covered with white porcelain masks with different designs drawn on them, they all had weapons drawn.

"My Lord, a group of locals have surrounded us," the pilot reported calmly.

"Ignore them, set course for the _Executor_."

The pilot acknowledged the order and pressed a few buttons. Outside the ANBU threw weapons at the behemoth metal monster (4), all of which bounced off the Durasteel hull. The shuttle kicked up dust and dirt as the repulsor engines turned on and lifted the shuttle in the air. The landing gear retracted as the primary ion engines activated, propelling the shuttle away at speeds and heights that the ninja below would never be able to keep up with (5). The wings folded down as it gained speed, going up into the upper atmosphere before leaving the planet entirely. Naruto was in awe of the stars and the massive 19-kilometer-long vessel they were traveling towards. Vader could not fault the youngling for his curiosity and wonder after all his new apprentice was from a pre-spaceflight world with limited technological advancements. After all, he too had been in wonder after seeing Imperial Center the first time when he was a child.

In Vader's private shuttle bay, which also housed his personal starfighter, he was greeted by a squadron of the 501st standing at attention. Vader escorted his apprentice into his private quarters and pulled up files on galactic history, after all, if he were to go through with his still hatching plan, his apprentice would need to blend in and not raise any suspicions. His apprentice occupied, he walked onto the bridge.

"Captain, chart a course for Korriban," Vader commanded. "Transfer the star chart and coordinate data for this system and transfer it to a removable drive, then wipe the data from the navicomputer."

"My Lord?" the captain asked.

"We were never here, captain."

"O-of course," the captain replied fearfully. "It will be done, my Lord."

And thus began the Sith training of Naruto Uzumaki, soon to be Sith Lord Darth Siqsa.

XxXxXxX

 _Forest moon of Endor. Outer Rim, Modell sector, Endor system._

Admiral Naruto "Siqsa" Uzumaki stood with his arms behind his back watching the live feed from the _Executor_ of the battle of the Rebel Alliance and the Empire aboard his own Super Star Destroyer _Nightfall_ just on the other side of the gas giant Endor. His battle group consisted of six other Star Destroyers, two _Interdictor_ -class, three _Imperial II_ -class, and one heavily retrofitted _Imperial I_ -class destroyer. He was the youngest Admiral in the Empire at the young age of nineteen. Many had speculated at how someone so young could be as powerful in the Imperial Navy. Some had written it off as prestigious levels of intelligence and skill, like Chiss Admiral Thrawn. Others higher up knew that he had been deployed several times with Darth Vader and his task forces and each time received a commendation from Vader himself as well as Imperial High Command. In fact, the only people who knew how he had been placed in such a high level of power were his second in command and his master.

He wore the standard black admiral uniform, complete with ridiculous hat. He awaited the specific order from his master to arrive in the battle. The crew of his battle group was completely loyal to him to a fault, he had vetted them personally using the Force. Those who would not remain loyal he had reassigned, or if he found Imperial Security Bureau plants he'd have them die in 'accidents' ranging from reactor leaks and explosive decompression to food poisoning and allergic reactions.

His personal unit designated 'Maelstrom' was a completely different story. They were all his genetic clones. Unlike the clones from the Clone War that were all based off of Jango Fett and Fett alone, his were like his children biologically as samples of blood and other genetic samples of human females with the potential of Force sensitivity within the next two generations were taken from hospitals and med bays across the Empire and had the Kaminoans splice his genes with the collected samples. It had taken ten years to build his army, however, they would be with him for at least thirty more years or so as there was a trigger set that would re-engage normal aging after the clones reached the biological age of eighteen standard years old. Another thing that made his clones different? There were both male and female clones in his army. Male or female didn't matter to him, only that they were lethal, and they were. As they were also Force-sensitive thanks to the combination of his genes and the genes of the women they had Force-enhanced reflexes, making their survival chances much higher than normal Stormtroopers. Of course, this had been a gift from his master.

As they aged quickly, there were some that he grew up with, especially the ones that had the potential to use the most combative uses of the Force. Members like his second in command. He sensed what his second in command was about to tell him. "Colonel Suzuka?" he asked without turning around.

"It's time. We've received the transmission from Lord Vader, the contingency is now in effect," the disciplined but pleasant sounding voice of his second in command stated.

Naruto turned around to see an attractive young woman around nineteen standard years old standing at attention. She also wore the standard Imperial officer uniform as Naruto did, albeit with a lower rank displayed on her uniform. Her longer than regulation chestnut-brown brown hair was worn in a ponytail while a single loose bang framed the right side of her face. Her uniform clung to her voluptuous form and displayed her higher than average bust size, slender waist, and taut and firm buttocks. While Naruto was a Sith and didn't have to restrain his emotions like the Jedi of the Old Republic did, he did have to keep an air of authority and calmness as an admiral; and if he was going, to be honest, he thought his second in command was quite beautiful. But then again all of his female clones were.

"Is the group in position?" Naruto asked.

"Coordinates have been entered and hyperdrives are primed," the colonel replied.

"Good. We know where the ships are positioned, have gunners aiming in those directions. Have the _Verdant_ and _Striker_ have their gravity well projectors ready to activate. Prepare the micro-jump to hyperspace." At once, the stars streaked past for a second or two before reverting back into real space. "Time to unleash chaos, strike from every side, confuse them, destroy everything, decide who lives.. and who dies (6)," he said with a grin, one that was mirrored by his second in command; his one ice blue eye and sulfuric yellow eye glistened in glee at what was to happen.

XxXxXxX

 _Home One, Forest moon of Endor._

"Admiral six vessels inbound behind the Imperial fleet, all with Imperial signatures!" one of the crewmen stated.

At once, the aforementioned six vessels reverted back into real space and revealed five Star Destroyers which were spearheaded by a Super Star Destroyer. "Force preserves us," Ackbar said in a pseudo-prayer.

When they expected to die in superheated turbolaser fire, they didn't. "Sir, the new arrivals are firing on the Imperial fleet!" another crewman stated.

"WHAT?!" Ackbar replied in surprise. And there he saw several of the _Imperial II_ destroyers explode from the volleys fired at them while ion cannons were fired at the _Executor_.

"Sir, we're getting a com from the Super Star Destroyer, audio only," one of the communications officers stated.

"Open a line."

 **"Admiral, the shield on the forest moon should be down shortly. With the four destroyers down and the shields of Executor down this battle should be in the Alliance's favor. Best of luck, and may the Force be with you,"** and with that the communication cut out before the six ships jumped back into hyperspace, not a minute later.

XxXxXxX

 _Nightfall_

Naruto cut the communication with the Mon Calamari vessel and turned to the navigations officer. He tossed a crystal data storage device to him. "Load up the coordinates on that drive," Naruto ordered.

Not more than a moment later the battlegroup shifted position away from the battle, taking a few turbolaser hits that were dispersed by the ray shields the ships had up, and jumped into hyperspace once more.

"Where are we going, Admiral?" Colonel Suzuka asked.

"Home, colonel. I'm going home."

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And that's the end of this pilot chapter. Next, up, notes!**

 **1\. So I say that it "seldom" snows in Konoha. Now I watched the Last Naruto movie trailer and there are a few scenes where it's winter in Konoha. Based on the country's location that we've seen throughout the series we haven't seen it snow, at least that I can remember other than the trailer. So I'm going with that it occasionally snows.**

 **2\. So I looked up the anatomy of the eye and the innermost part of the eye is the lens while the center of the eye before you get inside it is the cornea. Like what most people put in fanfics when it concerns Naruto is that his sclera becomes slitted. Wrong. The sclera is part of the outermost layer of the eye which lies behind the ligaments that connect the eye to the skull just before you get to the optic nerve. It's amazing what you can learn from a simple google search.**

 **3\. "Siqsa" is the Sith word for "demon" according to the Star Wars wiki aka Wookieepedia. I thought it was appropriate given what the villagers call him. Also note that Vader didn't call him Darth Siqsa, just Siqsa as Naruto isn't a Sith Lord yet, just an apprentice. Also, I don't know Sith traditions and I'm sort of making this up as I go along. After all Galen Marek was called Starkiller, not Darth Starkiller.**

 **4\. The Lambda has nothing on the AT-AT or the Destroyers, however, they've never seen a metal construct that large; so yeah, monster.**

 **5\. Ok, so I did some research on ninja speed and the speed at which the human eye can comprehend. From what I've gathered the fastest speed the eye can see is anywhere between 75-150 frames per second in terms of digital media, it all depends on the person, though. As for ninja the Body Flicker Technique, or Shunshin no Jutsu, isn't a teleporting technique. *Waits for shocked gasps to subside* According to the Naruto wiki it's a technique that propels the user at a speed faster at which the eye can see across short distances for a short amount of time. The ONLY known teleportation technique that's canon is the Flying Thunder God technique that the Fourth Hokage was infamous for using. Again the user moves so fast that the eye can't see it making LOOK like teleportation while it is not. Hence this is the reason they would not be able to catch up to the shuttle in the short time span the Body Flicker is used for is because of the Sublight engines on the shuttle.**

 **6\. This is a quote from the 2015 E3 trailer for** ** _Ghost Recon: Wildlands_** **monologue.**

 **I bet you didn't see Naruto firing on the Imperial fleet. Nope, I KNOW you didn't. And why is the _Executor_ being Vader's ship of choice instead of some random regular Star Destroyer? Because I can. Anywho, that is part of a larger concept idea I've been working with my bud Shadowz101 for another ****_Star Wars_** **crossover idea I'm working on and plan on releasing eventually once I get the story all worked out. So tell me what you think? Should this continue? Should I leave it a plotbunny? Let me know in the reviews section.**

 **Remember to favorite if you liked, follow if you want to see this continue, and check out my other works. Until next time everyone!**

 **EDIT: It was brought to my attention that the "firing upon the Imperials scene" was an idea that I might have gotten from the writer** **fanwriter10101 and his story "A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away"** **(** id: 11634268 **), however, I have a TERRIBLE short term memory and forgot. To the guest that brought this to my attention, I thank you. As I've stated numerous times in other fics I've written, I do not like plagiarism and try to give credit wherever it is due. This is one of those instances where I forgot and later edit my already published doc to give credit.**


	12. HP x Halo: Original Wizard from Tribute

**(Please note that what you're about to read is a reposting of my original chapter for "The Wizard from Tribute". Before you ask why I would waste my time reposting the entire chapter, I do have a reason. You see I had to make several decisions regarding the story and I had to scrap those ideas, as you'll see towards the end of this chapter. That had to happen as I decided to take a different route from what I originally decided to do. Instead of allowing these chapters to rot for eternity on my laptop's hard drive, I decided to post what I had here in my repository so that you guys could all see where I might have been going with this to begin with.)**

 **Some specific notes that need to be addressed are that I am an American trying to write with a British "accent" so there will be times when I may use "color" instead of "colour" or "center" instead of "centre." In the case of the last one it will be a case by case basis as I may say "the center of the galaxy" while in the same general area saying "Centres for Disease Control" or something along those lines as I associate the latter with a specific location while the former as a generalized location. Also, my computer's word processor has autocorrect so there's that too. Listed below are a series of specific character triggers.**

 **Smart/Logical/Semi-Jaded!Harry – As there will be a series of events that will happen in this pilot, Harry will not be stupid and desperate for friends that he is in the actual books and movies. I mean who would WILLINGLY be friends with Ron after he almost gets Hermione killed because he decides to be a jackass to a girl who has JUST ENTERED THE MAGICAL WORLD? Let's not get started with Ron's attitude during the Triwizard tourney, he's his alleged best friend and he writes him off as a seeker of glory though he knows that Harry hates being in the spotlight. Personality-wise he won't be in anyone's face about being smart like Hermione is with her know-it-all type attitude, he lets his work speak for itself, acta non verba and all that. He will be influenced by his mentor as well as his adoptive parents and his actions will reflect that. As for his jadedness, he's not one to be fooled by the rose colored glasses that the rest of magical Britain has on. He's also not one to trust anyone immediately based on his early life prior to 2552.**

 **Manipulative/Greater Good/Meddling!Dumbledore – As we read in the final book,** _ **Deathly Hallows**_ **, Dumbledore says, more or less, that hell is paved with good intentions. I believe that this is what spawned the whole fanfiction trope of a manipulative or evil Dumbledore who has been manipulating Harry from the very start either from a "I need a weapon willing to die for the Greater Good" or "I am the guy that defeated Grindelwald so, therefore, I am the guy who should control wizarding kind." There's also the evil version of that may or may not include Dumbledore ruling alongside Grindelwald as they were lovers back in the day, but I digress. In this specific fic he will be the guy that says "I am the smartest man in the world, I killed the last major Dark Lord, listen to what I say and do what I say because I have a great plan after all that might mean many of you die but it's for the Greater Good and I know best." In other words, he does have the best interests of the Wizarding World at heart, but he is going about it the wrong way. Though whether or not I'll go farther than that have yet to be seen. Harry and his allies will NOT see eye to eye with him. Whether or not he'll become evil has yet to be seen.**

 **Gray!Riddle – Now as we all know by canon Tom Riddle was a half-blood born to a squib mother and a mundane (please remember that term as it will constantly come up) father. He's an orphan and once he gets into the wizarding world he sees things that are just wrong by modern (relative to his age) standards. Now note that I said "Riddle" and not "Voldemort" as this will be important. He, in his youth, wanted to change the wizarding world for the better, however, the ones in power don't want it to change as they like it the way that it is. He also goes the Dumbledore route, but instead of going the manipulative politics route that could take decades, he goes for the more direct route: a revolution under the guise of Pureblood Supremacy, if he were to kill off the bigots then the ones that could really change the world could then stand up. Or at least that's how it started. It went downhill once he made his first Horcrux, I mean you really aren't the same, or sane, when you split your soul in two. I'm not going to go into psychobabble but let's shorten it to this: he started to believe what he had started initially as a setup to eliminate the ones that made his life hell in school. This will be reflected in the diary Horcrux.**

 **Idiot!Purebloods – Let's be honest, the purebloods are idiots when it comes to the outer world. I mean the only one that's even got a lick of even some sense is Arthur Weasley, I mean he has to have things explained to him, but at least he's trying. I mean they don't even bother to even try to blend in, I mean they're so secretive that they literally mind-rape people who do in fact see them. I mean if the international community caught wind of that they'd strike back, or at least put pressure on the British monarchy (as I've always loved that plot point in fanfiction) to get them under control. The documented magical society (the British one at least) is so backward that in the late 90's they're still stuck in the sixteenth century tops. I mean in this setting they're in the twenty-sixth century, a good thousand years' difference. Do note that there are few documented pureblood families that are shown, so I'm claiming creative freedom. There may be a few families that use 26th-century tech or even have property on other colonies pre-Covenant assaults, but we'll see. But more to the point, the Purebloods like Malfoy and the others that like their cloistered society are ignorant of humanity colonizing other worlds like Reach, Harvest, New Harmony, etc. as well as the Covenant onslaught, so when February of 2552 comes around they're in for quite the shock. In fact, those who didn't directly come into contact with any of the Covenant species during the Battle for Earth are still deluded that it was a "muggle urban legend" or a "mudblood lie" depending on their alliances. If that wasn't enough to really tick off their mundane-born or half-blood counterparts, they don't have even basic schooling pre-Hogwarts so they have little critical thinking skills other than what their parents have taught them or through private tutors. In comparison, a freshly graduated student of any high school in the world would be as smart as Catherine Halsey to them. You could call it another reason that they're so threatened by the half-blood and mundane-born children even though they haven't said or done anything yet.**

 **Evil!Arrogant!Voldemort – For a man raised in the mundane world that has lived through the Insurrectionist movement how can he not believe that if the head of the UNSCDF (which for the record during Halo 2 was Lord Terrence Hood) wouldn't put a MAC round into his compound to end his slaughter of mundanes and magicals alike then he'd be wrong, dead wrong. Sure you might be able to confound electronic devices and guided missiles, that isn't going to do much to several hundred tons of ferric mass hurdling at you at close to 30k meters per second (before adding in variables like wind resistance and atmospheric friction) leaving the barrel of a** _ **Paris**_ **-class frigate in high to low orbit. He's also arrogant that the British Ministry of Magic will be able, with the use of Malfoy and the others' money as bribes as well as magic, to keep any word from getting to the UEG about their activities.**

 **Molly, Ron, Ginny (initially), Hermione (initially), Dumbledore, Voldemort, Ministry of Magic, most Purebloods, Death Eater, OoTP!Bashing – The characters and groups that I have listed will be bashed to an extent. Note that Ginny and Hermione will be initially bashed, e.g. when their characters and personalities of said characters are introduced. For example, Hermione is a know it all, Harry is going to call her out on that when it comes up. Then Ginny with her obsession with Harry that her mother has instilled in her since she could comprehend the stories told to her by her mother. And so on and so forth. Saying anything more on that would be spoiling the story or at least the fun I'll have bashing groups and specific characters, also the list is subject to change. Please note that "bashing" in my book is an outsider calling BS on something that is completely stupid.**

 **Pairings – Undecided at this point in time. There are so many possibilities, I could go with Harry/Ginny or Harry/Hermione, or I could even do some other obscure pairing. I dunno, I'll leave it up in the air for now. Maybe I'll do a poll on who he should end up with in the end.**

 **Master of Death – No idea how I'm going to work that in, or if it'll be in at all. At least the legend of the Three Brothers will still exist, so there's that.**

 **Technomancy – Based on the fact that this is a good thousand years in the future from where the normal plot of** _ **Harry Potter**_ **would take place it wouldn't be a surprise that certain groups of magicals have managed to make a symbiotic relationship with magic and technology. This term will come up assuming that this pilot chapter goes well.**

 **Rating – Please note that the rating is T for safety reasons as I still have no idea what else is going to go into this story but that is merely a precaution for now. Should I decide to split this off into multiple stories, one for each of Harry's magic schooling years, I'll adjust the rating appropriately if anything changes rating-wise like sexual content, blood, and gore, etc.**

 **Disclaimers: I own nothing.** _ **Halo**_ **belongs to Microsoft, 343 Industries, and Bungie (they still officially own Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo: Reach apparently according to what I was able to dig up). Harry Potter is owned by Warner Brothers and the mistress of magic herself, JK Rowling. I only own original plotlines and original characters, anything recognizable belongs to the appropriate parties. This fic is not for profit so if anyone is making a profit off of it, shame on them.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

 ***Messages displayed on HUDs or on monitors/screens/holographic displays***

 **[Specific event start/stop]**

 **{Optional music prompt for a scene}**

XxXxXxX

Chapter 1

 **{Opening Suite, Halo: CE Original Soundtrack, Martin O'Donnell}**

A long time ago, before humanity was even the proverbial sparkle in the eye of its progenitor there was a species that achieved the top tier of civilization, Level 0. This species? They would be later renamed the Precursors. They remained on top of the galactic food chain for millions of years while they defended younger, weaker species at the same time as raising them up. At a point, their hierarchy noticed the decline in their society that would eventually lead to their extinction, so they did what any being would do when planning their eventual demise: they needed an heir to their 'fortune'. Their choices were narrowed down to two species, the Humans from Erde-Tyrene and the species that would later rename themselves as the Forerunners from Ghibalb. After centuries of deliberations, the Precursors decided that Humanity should lead the species of the galaxy and protect it through the Mantle of Responsibility. The Precursors gifted their new heirs a gift to perform actions that defied their logic and known physics. This ability was called extrasensory perception, or ESP.

The Forerunners, angry that the beings they looked up to as gods passed over them for their just as technologically advanced but more fragile galactic neighbors, struck back and went to war for millennia with the Precursors, to which the Forerunners won. Later they would enter war with Humanity as well over a misunderstanding, to which the Forerunners would win due to Humanity having to fight a war on two fronts, one with the Forerunners and the other with the Flood, an enemy that would later decimate the Forerunners ensuring their extinction as well. When the human Lord of Admirals surrendered, the gene that allowed humans to perform ESP was suppressed, never to be seen again in mass for over fifty thousand years.

After the Forerunner Halo array was fired and civilizations were restored through samples collected by the Librarian, communities on the newly renamed planet Earth consisted of tribes that all had at least a shaman or witch who would predict the future or give sage advice that could influence their survival. These people were the first of the reemergence of those with ESP, that those with lesser minds would simplify as magic. Eventually clans became villages and villages became cities, meanwhile, the number of magic users increased. Then came organized religion. Two primary religions contributed to the reason why magic users hid themselves, Islam and Roman Catholicism. Both of the aforementioned religions punished advanced humans just for being able to do things that few others could, things they considered Satanic or ungodly. They hid away until the man named Merlin met Arthur Pendragon and forged a friendship that would stand the sands of time as the sorcerer was made Arthur's advisor when he became king. Together they built the now mythical city of Avalon where magicians and normal people lived in harmony.

However, this project was doomed to fail due to Arthur's son taking the throne after Arthur's death. Once again the magical populace went into hiding, secluding themselves in isolationism, not meddling in the affairs of those they deemed "muggles." It would be centuries before they secretly made moves in the shadows during the Second World War in the 1940's, primarily when a wizard preached Pureblood Supremacy and allied himself with Hitler. While the Pureblood Supremacy movement was stopped thanks to a brave few, thanks to events like the Salem Witch Trials and other faux trials in the name of "God," the society became more cloistered until the point where their highest "technology" would be considered inferior by modern standards.

Then the Covenant came, sweeping through human colonies burning the planets they were on to glass. Many wizards and witches on many worlds their ancestors had spread to over humanity's expansion to the stars saw the call to arms and joined up with the UNSC to fight against annihilation. However, there were some that dismissed the claims of homicidal extraterrestrials and hid in ignorance like they had done for centuries. It wouldn't be until the Covenant were at humanity's doorstep that they would realize the truth. Or at least those who were willing to open their eyes would see the truth.

XxXxXxX

 _October 2547. Surrey, England._

It was once said by George Santayana "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," or as most people paraphrase it "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." This could be well said about the famous wizard Albus Dumbledore. He defeated the infamous dark wizard Grindelwald in 2490 when he decided to instigate a Hitler-style cleansing that instigated the origins of Pureblood Supremacy. Yes, the political origins existed hundreds of years prior, but Grindelwald was the first to openly support and enforce it in the political sphere. When the Wizengamot didn't accept his laws, due to the others in the Wizengamot reasoning that without new blood in the family lines their families would die out magically in a few generations time, he retaliated with war. For years in plain sight, those on the side of the Dark would pit themselves against the Light. It wasn't until a three-way Mexican standoff happened between Albus, Grindelwald, and Aberforth which resulted in Ariana, the only girl in the Dumbledore family, dying at the hands of someone's curse. The three never worked out who killed her.

More years would pass before Albus would confront Grindelwald and defeat him in a duel for the ages that would go down in the history books as legendary as the duel that was once held between Merlin and Morgan Le Fay. Albus would emerge victorious that day and according to all media outlets in the wizarding world, Grindelwald was dead. However, he was still being held in a secretive prison only known to the two for unknown reasons.

It would be years later when another dark lord rose and took up the mantle again of Pureblood Supremacy, a man who would go by the name Voldemort. The boy was idealistic and wanted change in a world he thought was slighting him and many others that shared his situation when it came to birth. He went from political activist to cold blooded murderer. Another shadow war began, which while it ended with a much lower death toll, was just as devastating to many families like the Weasleys, Bones, Greengrass, and a few others. However, the endgame had an even more traumatic toll on two families in particular: the Potter and Longbottom families.

Voldemort, through the use of his spies, got wind of a prophecy that would end him. Ironically it was a self-fulfilling prophecy that he set in motion by hearing it. Six months later the boys Hadrian "Harry" James Potter and Neville Longbottom would be born one day apart. A month before the end of the war Lily Potter nee Evans would learn of her father's demise in the muggle world. Under a Notice-Me-Not charm, she attended his funeral, which was a closed casket funeral as there was no body to bury, which was odd in Dumbledore's mind, but he dismissed it. On All Hallows Eve Voldemort attacked the home that Dumbledore himself placed the Fidelius charm upon. All adults were killed within, James and Lily were both killed with a Killing Curse while several Death Eaters were killed by muggle weaponry found by James' body as well as other myriads of curses and hexes cast by him. He died a warrior's death. The only living occupant of the destroyed house was little Harry Potter, who had a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead just above at the hairline.

"Albus, I must protest," said an elderly cat-turned-woman. "These are the worst sort of muggles. Even Lily told me they hate anything having to do with magic."

"Minerva, you must see that this is the only way to keep little Harry safe," Dumbledore replied, wandlessly casting a mild Confundus charm on her. "The blood wards that I've erected will keep those who would wish to harm him away. Petunia is the only one alive of his family that shares his blood that we could tie the wards to."

"Fine," she spat in forced agreement. "But know that I disapprove."

Albus knew that Lily's sister hated magic, it all had to do with their childhood and Severus Snape. Both Lily and Petunia came from a 'good' Catholic family. He was shocked how many people were turning to religion these days. The last time that any of the previous professors remembered this high amount of people in any place of faith was the times around great catastrophes or war. But last he checked there was no fighting that wasn't quelled by local police forces. He heard rumors of aliens, but as he had never seen any he dismissed it as a 'muggle urban legend'. Lily had excluded her sister as the Statute would only allow immediate family to know the most basic things about the magical world.

Albus left Harry wrapped in a blanket in a basket with a few warming charms with a note. What he didn't know was though his deluminator extinguished all the lights on the street, he was still being watched. But the individual in question was not an individual, but the supercity of London's artificial intelligence unit.

 ***WARNING: All street lights on Privet Drive have been deactivated.***

 ***Initiating remote restart…***

 ***…***

 ***Remote restart failed. Contacting Public Works. Inputting repair request.***

 ***Abnormality: Four heat signatures detected late at night. Size ratios depict three adults and one infant. Running faces through Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.***

 ***…***

 ***No matches detected. Running a search through international and interplanetary databases. The eldest of the three is leaving the child in a basket on the doorstep with a letter on… parchment? The three have disappeared into thin air, no heat signatures detected. Accessing #4's door records. Doorbell was not activated. Alerting local authorities and homeowners.***

 ***…***

 ***Done.***

While the Dursleys were in fact contacted to the presence of their nephew, the police never arrived. The AI noted that the boy would be seen over the next five years picking weeds even in the rain or appearing with bruises from beatings. It contacted the police as per the protocols laid out by its programmers; however, no matter how many times it contacted the authorities they always came and went, like something was controlling them. This would go on for years where it seemed as though the child went through systematic abuse and neglect until February of 2552.

XxXxXxX

 _February 2552._

A month ago Harry's life had been routine. He'd get up in the morning and make his fat, lazy relatives breakfast. Which was saying something since most foods were genetically modified to prevent diseases like obesity and diabetes, however, Dudley and Vernon Dursley had somehow managed to circumvent the system and still became well overweight. Food health scientists had come to them with offers to _study_ them to see how they had managed such a borderline impossible feat. After breakfast, he'd make the lunches that Vernon and Dudley would take to work and school. If he was lucky he'd get a glass of milk for his troubles, otherwise he'd get nothing. He'd get the lunch provided by his school, but he'd only be able to eat a piece of fruit as that's the only thing that Dudley wouldn't take or eat. He would do mediocre in class as to not anger his uncle, though he always knew all the answers to all the questions that the teacher asked.

After a long day of evading Dudley and his cronies while doing mediocre homework assignments to keep the teacher from asking questions, he'd make dinner then immediately be thrown back in his cupboard to sleep. They never let him out of the house to do anything other than doing chores. The one time they had to was for a school field trip to London's Orbital Defense Platform. He loved seeing all the stars, he thought they were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, well besides the images of a red haired woman that'd appear in his dreams every so often. He had heard the rumors of what the fortress world of Reach looked like when you got out of the cities, as well as the images of Harvest before it was destroyed. But by far the most beautiful thing in his book was the stars.

But that was a month ago, not now. Now he was cowering in his cupboard not making a sound while his aunt, uncle, and cousin were slaughtered by the Brutes of the Covenant. They had stormed in and as the three tried to escape they were caught by the peculiar weapons used by the Brutes, the Spikers. They would impale their victim's bodies while leaving their flesh mostly intact, unlike the plasma weaponry that the rest of the Covenant tended to use that vaporized whatever it hit and left charred wounds. Dudley and Petunia were killed mercifully as Spiker rounds went straight into their brains, killing them instantly. Vernon, on the other hand, was not so lucky as he had been gut shot before the animals ate him while he was still alive; the other two Dursleys spared that horror by being very dead.

While most of the pack of Brutes were devouring the last of Harry's family, one started sniffing the door of his cupboard. He knew that this was the end of the line, he would be just as dead as his despised relatives. He prayed to every deity that he could think of from reading in the public library to spare him. His prayer was answered but in a very interesting way.

"KILL THE BRUTES FOR THEIR TREACHERY!" came the mangled English of another outside, followed by plasma weapon fire and energy swords igniting. The smell of charred flesh could be smelled, even in the cupboard.

"Is that all of them?" the same voice as before asked.

"Indeed, Leader. The Brutes in this structure are dead," another replied. Harry reasoned that this was the leader's subordinate.

 **{Sacred Icon Suite, Halo 2: Original Soundtrack Volume 2, Martin O'Donnell}**

"Motion trackers are picking up one more life sign, much smaller than any Brute," another said affirmatively. Harry started to panic, all reasoning left him. He was about to die again. The door opened to reveal an Elite pointing a plasma rifle at him. Harry's life flashed before his eyes, what little of a life there was. When no plasma bolt entered his chest, or the acrid smell of charred flesh filled his lungs, he opened his eyes to see that the Elite had holstered his rifle on his thigh. "It is just a human child, Leader. It appears he hid under here while the others in the house were slaughtered."

Another appeared in the doorway, his energy sword lighting up the small space under the stairs. "No, Minor. This is where the child slept. Based on the fact it was locked from the outside tells me that it was not consensual," the leader said with a growl.

"What shall we do with him?"

"Call a Phantom and contact the London resistance group, tell them we have a survivor for them to tend to."

Harry was lead outside, but not at gunpoint, but with a clawed hand leading the way. One of the Covenant's dropships arrived, just as the leader said and hovered over them. A door opened on the bottom of the craft where a beam of purple light was activated. The first Elite stepped into it, then the one behind Harry gestured to it. He walked into it and he was pulled straight into the dropship. He felt weightless while gently pulled into the ship. When the one behind Harry had also entered the ship the door closed and the Phantom started to move.

The one beside him made Harry think he was a mind reader, "You have questions, child?"

"Why did you help me, you could have just killed me?" Harry asked.

"Not many humans know, but the belief that we had in the Great Journey was a lie. The Hierarchs lied to us for generations. The Brutes murdered our brothers on the Sacred Ring, all under the Prophets' orders. They are going to exterminate us like they wish to exterminate your species."

A realization came to Harry, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"An apt way of saying it, yes. The Swords of Sanghelios are loyal to the Arbiter, who is befriending humanity. Now it is I who has a question for you, how did the Brutes not find your home for close to a month? Your home was the only one without massive damage."

Harry was puzzled. Was this the reason why none of the Dursleys left the house for the last month? Why he didn't go to school, why he went close to a month without any food? "I don't know," Harry finally replied.

The rest of the flight was carried in silence as the Phantom flew into the supercity of London. They landed close to an underground terminal location. Inside were humans in UNSC battle dress manning heavy machine guns. The crews looked relieved as the identities of the Arbiter's men was established. They took a long ride in a cargo Warthog after Harry said 'thank you' to the Elites that saved him. They arrived in an abandoned line that hadn't been used in close to six hundred years as it was directly under the old Parliament building.

The next few days blurred past for Harry as they doted on him medically. He caught glimpses of the looks that the medics had on their faces as they looked at his charts. He could tell that they were not happy with his past injuries. It would be another two weeks before word came that the Human-Covenant war was over. The Master Chief along with Miranda Keyes, the Arbiter, and Sgt. Avery Johnson had killed the Prophet of Truth on a Forerunner installation called the Ark. Only the Arbiter made it back on the forward half of the frigate _Forward Unto Dawn_. There were still skirmishes as the rest of the non-Sangheili forces were routed from cities around the globe.

Months would pass before Harry would leave the refugee camp he had received medical attention in and arrived at a newly built orphanage. He made a few friends while in the camp, including a girl named Hermione and her mother. Apparently, her father was out in the city helping to fight the Covenant forces. Before he left he never found out if her father was still alive.

XxXxXxX

 _September 1, 2554. London._

It had been two years since the Battle of Earth as some were calling it. In fact, it was two months before Armistice Day, the official day that Lord Terrance Hood along with the Arbiter signed the ceasefire agreement between the Swords of Sanghelios and the UNSC. Harry had spent the first few months mourning the deaths of his only relatives, mainly because they were the last of his blood alive. Every day after that he poured into his studies getting top marks in every non-physical assignment given. When not studying for assignments or tests he read all the classics available on the net as well as some of the battle doctrine of the Marines as well as naval maneuvers like the Keyes maneuver and the Cole Protocol. In a gesture of goodwill, there was even a copy of Sangheili battle doctrine that was translated into English available on the net that he found interesting. Though this was well above the reading and comprehension level of an eight-year-old, he found it interesting.

As for the orphanage, adoptions were slowly being done as people were still trying to rebuild their lives. Harry wondered if he would be adopted at all, but part of him didn't care anymore. He had lived close to six years without parents, to begin with, as long as he had interesting books to read he would be happy.

He was currently reading about the Battle of Hastings when there was a knock on his doorframe. "Harry, would you please come to my office? There's a couple that wants to speak with you," the middle-aged man in charge of the orphanage said. "I'll give you a few minutes to freshen up," he said before leaving Harry alone.

Harry got excited, someone wanted to adopt him, or at least meet with him. He quickly put away his things away and made his way towards the overseer's office. The question became 'who was the one that wanted to adopt him?' He wasn't special by anyone's standards. Or at least he didn't stand out like some of the other children did. Some of the children in his wing were more athletic than he was, playing in city league football, cricket, and other sports. He was content to read his books. Maybe that's what the couple was looking for, a quiet child? He slowly made his way up towards the office, which was on the lower level as that's where the administration levels were, as well as rooms made available for visits with psychologists, especially for children like Harry who saw their family members killed and eaten by Brutes. Or killed by the Elites before the Great Schism as it was being called.

Harry stopped at the door and took a deep breath before knocking. "Come in," came the overseer's voice from the other side. Harry opened the door to see the overseer in his chair away from his desk. Sitting on the couch they use for one-on-one interviews was the couple. The man was average height with brown hair and blue eyes. His facial features depicted him to be of Caucasian decent, if his white, yet slightly tanned, skin wasn't enough to depict that. The one thing that really set him apart was he was in full UNSC dress uniform, cap included. The woman beside him was a bit on the shorter side, she had short black hair and almond colored eyes. She looked to be of Asian descent, but with how humanity had expanded the last five hundred years it was hard to tell. "Harry I would like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Dorian, they are interested in adopting you."

Mr. Dorian stood up and shook his hand in a firm grip. It was callous from years of training. "Hello Harry, my name is John but hopefully if everything works out you can call me dad," John said with a smile.

Mrs. Dorian took his hand next, hers was soft and more feminine yet had some rough patches. "And I am Madeline, but hopefully you can call me mom," she too said with a smile.

"I see that you are looking at my uniform, you're curious aren't you?" Harry nodded. "Well as you can tell I am in the Marines, specifically the ODSTs," he said as he pointed to a medal on his uniform. "My wife here is an elementary school teacher. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

XxXxXxX

 **[Flashback]**

 _August 7, 2554._

"Are you sure you want to do this Maddie?" John asked as his wife's naked form laid on top of his chest, his hands running through her short hair.

She crawled up John and took his face in her hands, "Of course." She then kissed him passionately. She broke the kiss only to tap him on the nose childishly. "You know what the doctors said, that gas from a Covenant Carbine magazine being ejected makes it extremely difficult to have kids of our own."

"So what age group were you looking at?" he asked as his hands trailed lightly down her back.

"Maybe kindergarten and older? I mean what if you're randomly deployed and something happens. Even if I did get pregnant the district will only give me so much time before they want me back teaching again, I want him or her to be semi-autonomous but still be able to learn from us."

"That's reasonable, I mean there's rumors that there are some cells of Brutes still operating in human territory. And knowing that Mrs. Naval Intelligence might pull my squad into one of her famous shenanigans at any time and how Romeo almost died, yeah really reasonable." They laid in silence for a while. "I'll tell you what, orphanages put files on the net for prospective adoptees. We'll look through files and see if there's any that you'd like to meet."

 **[Flashback end]**

XxXxXxX

 _November 5, 2554. Evening._

"And just sign here, here, and here." There were sounds of a stylus on a tablet. "It seems as though all the paperwork is in order. Ironic that we call this paperwork when there's no paper involved anymore. Mr. and Mrs. Dorian, congratulations you are now the parents of Hadrian James Potter or Hadrian James Dorian, you can change his last name if you wish. I do believe that appropriate for his new parents to tell him the good news," the overseer said before launching one of the addicting game apps topping the charts on the net.

Meanwhile, Harry was in his room reading a book on anatomy physiology. He didn't know how he always knew, but he could feel the presence of someone at his door. He lowered the book to see the Dorians, the couple he had met with last month. "Mr. and Mrs. Dorian, how can I help you?" Harry asked.

"Well Mr. Potter, we came to happily inform you that Maddie and I have finalized your adoption papers. Welcome to the Dorian family. By the way, ever heard of the world Tribute?" John asked.

XxXxXxX

 _Twelve hours later, London Station ODP. High orbit._

 **{The Maw, Halo: Original Soundtrack, Martin O'Donnell}**

Harry Potter, now Dorian, stood on the Orbital Defense Platform stationed above London. He had traveled up the space elevator along with John and Madeline and were now waiting for their transport to Tribute to the dock. John and Madeline only had a duffle bag with them as their things were already moved to their home on the outskirts of New Casbah, Harry, on the other hand, had a full suitcase beside him as Madeline had insisted that they buy him a new wardrobe. Most of the city was destroyed and Tribute was one of the few colony worlds that the Covenant didn't glass. There was a four-year plan ratified the previous year to recolonize the world.

Hours passed as many ships, both military and civilian, docked and left the station. Finally, their time came. Harry and his new parents entered the ship and the suite they'd be in for the next few months. Normally people would go into cryosleep, but Madeline thought that this would be a perfect time for the new family to connect. John, learning that Harry had never been off-world before, brought him up to the forward observation deck.

"John, why are we here?" Harry asked.

"There's one thing that you should see at least once before you die at any age, just watch," John replied.

The transport disconnected from the port, backed up, and turned around from the station. "All hands and passengers, stand by for Slipspace jump," came a voice over the intercom. A few minutes later, pointed in between the Earth and the moon a vortex of purple ringed blackness appeared. Slowly the ship moved inside of it until there was a white nebula in front of them and complete blackness on all sides.

"Wow," Harry said with his eyes wide in complete awe.

"I thought you might think that," John replied with an amused chuckle.

XxXxXxX

 _Meanwhile at Hogwarts…_

Headmaster Dumbledore was having quite a wonderful day, or at least the start of a good day. He was counting the years to the day that Harry Potter would come through the castle doors and study at his esteemed school. That and the day that he would start grooming him to be the Boy-Who-Lived, the one to finally kill Voldemort as the prophecy foretold. He would have to shape the boy to suit his needs. The old manipulator was planning everything down to a T. The boy would need a strong moral compass from a friend's mother, Molly Weasley would do perfectly and young Ronald would be the perfect friend and spy as they would be in the same year. He would need another friend, one to keep him on track for the most part. Dumbledore couldn't think of anyone at the moment, but he had five years to smooth that plan out.

He sipped at his morning tea when he noticed that the device that monitored Harry's position relative to London and health monitors were acting up. The first time had been when Harry had gone on a field trip with his class to one of those muggle skyscrapers in the city. Today was the second time. Then the strangest thing happened, the marker said that he was one hundred kilometers above London and continued to climb. Then, according to his health monitor, his heart rate increased in excitement before the distance monitor's numbers began to climb rapidly, as in hundreds of thousands of kilometers per second and climbing. The monitor finally reached its breaking point, exploding. Only one thought came to mind:

"What happened to Harry Potter?" Albus said aloud.

XxXxXxX

 **Author's Notes:**

 **And there we have it, chapter 1. That was quite interesting now, wasn't it? Dumbledore has no idea what happened to Harry. I mean he's just as ignorant as the other Purebloods out there. They still think that magic is the bee's knees when people have been traveling to other planets, even the moon, for at least two to three hundred years now. Now as for why Dumbledore has been completely unaware of Harry's condition for close to two years that would be because the blood wards failed from the get-go, so he had no way to really keep track of where Harry was other than London in general as Surrey would have been part of the London supercity. As for not being notified of the Dursleys deaths, that would be because Arabella Figg is also dead. In this universe, she didn't have any wards around her home so when the Covenant invaded other cities after Mombasa they found her and killed her before she could even alert Dumbledore. Which is something that Dumbledore will find out soon. John Dorian is the fictional name of a certain ODST whose initials are JD. Now if you do your research the only known ODST that we've been aware of the initials JD are the Rookie from Halo 3: ODST. So guess what? Prepare for some cameo appearances of the others in the Rookie's squad. There are some that may ask this so I'll get this out of the way ahead of time; accidental magic, this was something that didn't come up until it was an afterthought. However, I'm going to reason it as so: The reason Harry's magic didn't react to the Elites was because I like the belief that Magic is semi-sentient and because it felt no ill will from them, unlike the Brutes, hence why they were unable to find him, Magic hid his scent and signature from them and their scanners while allowing the Elites to find him. One final note before I take off is why James had "muggle" weaponry on him. He's lived with Lily long enough to know that the Covenant are a threat and the off chance that they found Earth he would need any and all kinds of protection for him and his family, after all, he has no idea if magic-based attacks will even harm Covenant forces, especially ones with shielding like the Elites and Brutes.**

 **As for the chapter, what did you think? Interesting enough to continue? Got any constructive criticisms? Shoot them at me. That's what that review section is for. No flames as they will be deleted. Also before I sign off I want to ask you all who wish for me to continue this to go on over to my profile where I have a massive poll on what plotbunnies I should release first based on future/current reader interest.**

 **Until next time everybody!**

 **EDIT: After watching the cutscene from Halo 3 where Lord Hood does his speech on the Barren Hillside Memorial the date on the, what I assume to be, a Pelican alerion foil says March 3, 2552. I changed the date to a month before that final battle on the Ark for when Harry is rescued by the Elite patrol.**

XxXxXxX

Chapter 2

 _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – Upper Scotland; November 5, 2554 – Noon_

Headmaster Albus-too-many-names-and-titles Dumbledore was in a frenzy after his monitor on Harry Potter had exploded in his face. The shrapnel bounced away by a silently cast Protego charm, however, the immediate worry was not the Headmaster's health, but the location of Harry.

"Fawkes!" Albus yelled out, despite the fact that said phoenix was perched right next to him. "Find Harry," he commanded once the bird appeared in front of him. It disappeared in a flash of fire. Fawkes disappeared for a longer time than he ever had before. Usually the bird disappeared for moments, flashing to where he had wanted him to go and coming back. Never taking more than a minute or two. But time slowly kept crawling on. Minutes crawled into an hour before he started getting worried. Eventually the bird did reappear close to an hour and fifteen minutes later. "Fawkes, where did you go?"

The bird squawked a few times. "Where? A void? Stars? What are you going on about?" Albus asked. There were more squawks. "You tried to follow several times, but whenever you arrived they were long gone. You tried several times, but you eventually reached a point of no return and came home?" The headmaster slumped down in his chair sulking. "Oh Harry, what happened to you?"

All of his plans would have to change if he could not find the boy. But the boy was still alive according to the health monitoring monitor the boy was fine, in fact he was excited if what he knew of human physiology and the human heart was correct. The boy was alright, now he just needed to get him back with his relatives. Speaking of which, a thought had crossed his mind.

'Why didn't Arabella floo me when Harry left his relatives' house?' Albus thought. 'I shall floo her and find out.'

Albus moved over to his personal floo. Throwing in the powder he call out, "Arabella Figg!" There was the flash of sparks and green flame. He stuck his face inside the floo but when he did he saw absolutely nothing. The connection to Arabella's floo had been completely severed. Worried that something had happened to his friend and spy on Harry he called out to Fawkes, "Take me to Arabella Figg's house post haste!" he commanded. He disappeared in a flash of flames and reappeared in front of Arabella's residence, however when he looked closer it wasn't Arabella's house at all but another house in its place. It looked new, if Albus had to guess no more than two years old at the most.

He walked up to the door and knocked. In the place of what would have been Arabella, there was a young woman holding an infant. "Hello, might I help you?" she asked as she eyed his clothing choice.

"Ah, yes. My name is Albus Dumbledore, I was wondering if an Arabella Figg lives here, would she happen to?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't know any Arabella Figg." She looked back into the house and shouted, "Dear, do we know of an Arabella Figg that used to live here?"

A young man that looked to be a year or so older than the woman who was drying a mug with a towel. "I don't know about any Arabella Figg. I do know that we are the first buyers of this house since this development was rebuilt two years ago," he replied.

"I'm sorry, I must seem like I am intruding, but what happened that would cause an entire city to need to redevelop the land here?" Albus asked, he himself being very confused.

"Have you been living under a rock for the last twenty-seven years? The Covenant completely tore this entire city up along with several major cities around the world. Paris, New York, Cleveland of all places, Tokyo, and a few dozen others. In fact, the two cities of New Mombasa and Voi were completely glassed and wiped off the face of the Earth."

"I'm sorry, the Covenant? Glassed?"

"Sir, are you sure you are alright? Do you have Alzheimer's? Do you need us to call you an ambulance?" the woman asked.

"No my dear that is not required," Albus said with a slight Confundus charm to avoid Muggle authorities.

"Alright then. Well if you're looking for this Arabella lady either she was killed by the Covenant when they invaded or she went to one of the refugee camps and relocated. We used to live in Paris before all this, my wife and I," the man said. "The things we witnessed during the invasion, we couldn't stay there anymore. The nightmares came every night. While this area was just as affected, the nightmares stopped for both of us. If the person you're looking for was anything like us, and she's alive, she most likely won't be in London anymore."

"Thank you for your assistance. One last thing though before I leave, Obliviate," Albus casted the charm as he implanted a false memory of a door-to-door salesman came to interest them in a product he was selling. They turned him away and went on with their afternoon. 'Yes that will do nicely. Door-to-door salesmen are still a thing, right?' he thought to himself proudly. He knew that Arabella was dead. If she wasn't she would have come to him if she was in danger. That would explain everything. She had taken a magical oath to watch him, as squibs did have enough magic to make oaths, see though muggle-repelling charms and wards, and make magical potions; though the Pureblood faction dedicated to Voldemort would like to stamp that out.

He turned to the Dursley residence across the street and saw that it was in a similar state. After talking to the elderly couple that lived there that gave an identical story that the young couple did he made the following conclusions: Harry's family had been either killed by this homicidal alien homogeny (assuming that it wasn't a huge muggle conspiracy) or they moved away as non-magical muggles were not easy to track, he had been taken to an orphanage or had been living in the streets, and now he was far away from his clutches as well as Voldemort's followers.

'Perhaps this will be for the best for now. Harry is far from those who would wish to kill him before he can complete the prophecy,' Albus thought. 'It will be harder to get him to sacrifice himself willingly for the Greater Good however. I will have to do some careful manipulation on my part to ensure I mould him into the perfect weapon, possibly disposable, but a weapon none the less. Perhaps I should Obliviate his new guardians and have them abandon Harry and have him live with the Weasleys while he heals from his emotional pain. Perhaps. But I will have to wait until his Hogwarts letter is sent, then I shall know his location.'

While Dumbledore was plotting as he walked, as he forgot he could apparate and plot back at Hogwarts, he didn't notice a mechanical being watching him, like he was watched seven years prior.

 ***Abnormal energy influx detected.***

 ***NOTE: Person of interest spotted. Facial search match found. Records from seven years ago place this man at this location as noted by previous AI that served the city before me. Filing for further investigation.***

XxXxXxX

 _Meanwhile in Slipspace_

For no reason at all at the same time Harry and his parents sneezed at the same time. "You know," Maddie said. "In Japanese culture it said that if you sneeze for no reason at all and you're not sick or running a fever, it means that someone is talking about you. If we're all sneezing at the same time I'd say it's the same person."

"Well that can't be good, now can it?" John rhetorically asked.

XxXxXxX

 _Two years later (March 3, 2556) – Tribute, New Casbah; 0500 hours_

"But mum, I don't want to go hunting with dad and his marine buddies," Harry complained as he stood dressed in camouflage hunting gear.

"I thought you said you wanted to go hunting?" Madeline asked.

"Yes, but with dad and not with his squad mates," he pouted. "All they're going to do is drink and tell stories about missions they've been on. In and of itself that wouldn't be that bad but-."

"Romeo?"

"Romeo."

"You know that he acts that way to sound better than he is," Maddie tried to comfort her son. "Just try to make the best of it, maybe you'll be the one bringing home the catch of the hunt."

"I doubt it. Romeo's the designated marksman of the squad. I'm sure he'll be the one getting the kill like he always does, apparently."

"Tell that to your father, I heard he had quite a few interesting ones back during that night in Mombasa four years ago. Some that even trump Romeo's kills if what he's told you and me is anything to go by," she said with a wry grin.

"Fine, I'll try. But I feel as though dad owes me one for some reason."

"Atta boy. Now why don't you help your dad get the rest of the stuff in the 'hog," she said handing Harry his bag with enough clothes for the trip along with some spares.

Harry went into the garage to see his father putting coolers and bags inside the Warthog including the tent as the others would be bringing their own tents. The final things that John was placing in the bed of the transport Warthog were two hard cases.

"What's inside the cases?" Harry asked.

John placed one of the cases on its side and opened it and held the unloaded rifle aloft. "I have here two modified M395 DMR rifles. They fire only semi-automatically with 7.62x51mm rounds but instead of the normal three times electronic optic sight they have a more traditional 6x-12x rifle scope and no digital ammunition counter display. Do you know why?" John asked.

"Because animals are sensitive to the electromagnetic frequencies given off by electronically enhanced sights?"

"So you do remember that from the Hunter's Safety class you took," John said with a smirk before putting the rifle back inside the hard case.

"Well, you wouldn't let me come on the trip unless I did."

"That is true." John took Harry's bag and placed it in the Warthog. "Now we need to pick up the guys from the base then we can go head up north to the campsite that I staked out months ago. Double check that you've got everything and say goodbye to your mom, we've got to get on the road."

Harry said goodbye to his adoptive mother and got into the 'shotgun' seat of the Warthog. John gives his wife, still in a bathrobe which covered her more-revealing-than-a-child-should-see sleepwear, a kiss. "Don't do anything stupid," said Maddie.

"It's not me or Harry that you have to worry about," John said.

"Yep, just all the animals of the wild. And Romeo."

"Yeah, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, you know how he can get sometimes."

XxXxXxX

 _Two days later, Rookwood Forest_

"Do you see it?" one whispered.

"Yeah, about one hundred meters away," another stated.

"Take a deep breath, slowly exhale and squeeze the trigger slowly. Don't jerk it." The rifle's safety was switched off and the sound of metal slowly making contact with pistol grip of the rifle was met resulting in a loud gunshot. One hundred meters away a deer-like animal fell over as the bullet entered its ribcage, piercing its heart. "Good shot, kid."

Harry lowered the rifle and switched the safety back on. "You know Romeo if you didn't boast all the time and attempt to hit on all the ladies-."

"What do you mean 'attempt'?"

"You wouldn't be bad company," Harry finished.

"Thanks. I think. Why don't we climb down and see that kill of yours." They climbed down from the blind and slowly walked over to the newly hunted game. "You know for a kid on your first hunt, you didn't hesitate to shoot. Most kids do. Hell, even my first hunt I hesitated to squeeze the trigger."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because it wasn't human. I could never see myself intentionally murdering another in cold blood. Self-defense, sure. But not cold blood."

"Well as long as you're not torturing small animals."

XxXxXxX

 _A few hours later – camp_

"You did well, Harry. Six-point buck. No pun intended, sir," John said the last part directed at Buck.

"Not a bad shot either," Romeo complimented.

"Coming from you Romeo that's quite a compliment," Mickey said before taking a drink of his beer.

"Just complimenting on talent when I see it. You may have a future sniper on your hands, Rook," Romeo said with a chuckle.

"Well as long as he doesn't end up a womanizer like you," John retorted with a chuckle to which the entire squad laughed at as well. The rest of the evening went on, stories being told for Harry's sake. One of which was one being told by Dutch.

"And then I said, 'Lord, I'm not a pilot. Please tell me that I have no more flying to do today.' Then a drone fighter crashed into one of those fancy modern art statues behind me. I then asked, 'Is that a yes or a no then?' The Ghost I had been riding exploded to which I could only say, 'Amen!'" Dutch finished his story of the time he escaped Uplift Reserve.

Everyone laughed before Buck stared at a branch just lit by the campfire. "Am I seeing things or is that a Barn Owl?" Buck asked.

"Don't be stupid, they went on the endangered list a few centuries ago. Last I checked they've stagnated at a one to one birth/death ratio," Mickey stated.

"When did you become an expert on avian species on the endangered list?" John asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Downtime can get really boring when you've caught up on all those games, books, and movies you've put on backlog because of the war. Then no one's making anything new since the war just ended and the post-war depression is still going on so no real new media going out there. I read old articles on the net and a few aviation manuals. Born to fly, trained to blow stuff up," Mickey shrugged.

"That still doesn't change the fact that a freakin' Barn Owl is just sitting there on a branch," Buck pointed to said owl.

"Is it just me or is there a letter attached to its leg?" Harry asked pointing out the letter in the owl's claws. It flew down and landed next to Harry. "Uh guys, it's addressed to me." Harry took it and read the envelope. "'Mr. Harry James Potter, Fuckin' Middle of Nowhere, Rookwood Forest, Tribute'." Everyone stared at Dutch.

"What? That's where we are, aren't we?" Dutch asked.

Mickey took the envelope, much to the owl's squawking. He ran his ungloved fingers over it. "It's parchment. Old feeling even." He then took a whiff of the ink used. "Iron-based ink. Who still uses this for writing anymore? Only packages are still sent snail-mail, all letters and communiques are sent via email and the net."

"Perhaps reading the contents will tell is just who send an owl to someone a long way from its home," Buck stated.

Mickey opened the envelope and handed it to Harry. Harry unfolded it to read, "'Dear Mr. Potter, You've been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.' Wait a second I skipped a line. 'Headmaster Albus Percival Brian Dumbledore. Order of Merlin, First Class. Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. Chief Warlock of the Wizgamot'."

"And here I thought Lord Hood had a lot of titles behind him," Romeo commented.

As Harry read the letter John got more suspicious, especially when he got to the supplies portion. "Harry we should really get this checked out. This is beyond odd," John stated.

"And I think I know the right person to help us with this," Buck interrupted. "A certain Spook we all know and love."

XxXxXxX

 **Omake: The Great Journey of Fred the Barn Owl**

 _February 3, 2556; Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Headmaster's office_

Albus Dumbledore was not a hard man to please. All you had to do was what he said when he said it. However, for the past two years and then some the boy known as Harry Potter had been impossible to find. Fawkes had been unable to find him anywhere on Earth, regardless of the fact that said phoenix would argue in its own tongue that Harry was somewhere in the Great Void.

Then after over seven hundred days it came to him, "Of course! The official Hogwarts register!" The owls would always find their recipient, even if they changed locations. He quickly activated the charm tied to sending out the official letters and sent Harry's out four months early. Dumbledore leaned back in his high-backed chair and folded his hands, tapping the index fingers together. 'Soon,' he thought.

Meanwhile, the journey to end all journeys for owls would begin for the owl named Fred. He had the traditional Hogwarts letter attached to his leg and told to find and deliver the letter to Harry Potter. His instincts told him to fly to London through the sudden blizzard that had whipped up a few hours earlier. He flew through the snow and sleet until he arrived at the largest structure in the entire city: the London space elevator tether. It flew inside the terminal and waited on top of a chair while a plethora of people stared at the bird while giving it a wide berth.

"Is that an owl?" one man asked his wife in a whisper. "Should we call animal control?"

"Let's just leave it, maybe it'll just leave," the wife replied.

The doors to the elevator opened and the bird flew inside while the rest of the car was filled with people ready to leave on their journeys as well. When the elevator reached orbit the owl felt his instincts pull towards the passenger transport ship bound for the world of Tribute. Fred nestled himself in the cargo bay for a long sleep as his instincts told him that it would at least be a few weeks before he would be moving again.

Two weeks passed as the magic produced by carrier owls kept it from going hungry or thirsty. Finally, the ship arrived in the world of Tribute. It flew immediately out of the hatch straight to the elevator to the surface. It stopped and the owl flew through the lobby straight outdoors towards one of the large forests that surrounded the largely rebuilt city. Fred finally arrived in the middle of nowhere where a group of five men was around a campfire with his intended recipient.

"Am I seeing things or is that a Barn Owl?"

XxXxXxX

Chapter 3: Exposition, decisions, a visitor, and shopping

 _Two days later, Tribute, 2554_

"Sergeant Edward Buck," a woman said from the other side of the comm line. "For what reason did you think that calling me at four in the morning was a good idea?" she borderline growled.

"Come on, Veronica. I just need a favor to ask of you; or well the Rookie has a favor to ask of you," Buck replied.

"And that would be?" Veronica Dare asked.

John moved into the frame of the video call. "I need you to look up an institution for me. A 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'. Part of me thinks that someone is fucking with us," John stated.

"And the other part?"

"They're completely serious. They knew my son's name prior to the adoption, I made sure to have that sealed for his privacy. No one needs to know what he went through prior to Earth's invasion."

"And you can't look up this elusive school from Tribute because…?"

"Apparently it doesn't exist. I did net inquiries and found nothing. There were a few forum posts from back in the early 2000's, but nothing new. I even talked to our resident data miner who looked into the deep net, nothing."

"And you thought I could use my ONI clearance to get information that eludes you?" John nodded. "Well, you're lucky since this is Level One clearance related. You and your squad were cleared for Level One ONI clearance while we were working with Virgil." Dare pressed several keys sending data over the secure link. "Hogwarts is a school that studies the form of energy called 'magic.'"

"Are you seriously telling us that magic exists?" Romeo scoffed out of frame.

"What is 'magic' but science that has yet to be understood? If we took our _Paris_ -class frigates and a few Shivas back to the stone age they'd call us gods with magic," Dare retorted. "This school has existed for close to two thousand years as a formal intuition to study 'magic.' There are other institutions world-wide prior to our expansion to the rest of the solar system before founding a planet inside of UEG controlled space, yet autonomously run called New Avalon. It was one of the few colonies to go under the radar from the Covenant. Most if not all of the magic institutions have adapted to the times flawlessly, except for two because of their shadow governments."

"Shadow governments?" Buck asked.

"Prior to the UEG being founded these societies, with some exceptions, were extremely reclusive. The Witch Trials back during the United States founding as well as the Hunts in the Europe didn't help. With the fall of King Arthur's court which was liaised by the king as well as his best friend Merlin in keeping the peace between the magical and mundane worlds the remaining magical population receded back into the shadows, only the myths and legends of witches and wizards remained. Fear spread by the Roman Catholic Church made them recede further. Each major country founded a council of elders which would write rules and regulations like the Statute of Secrecy."

"The Statute of Secrecy?" Mickey chimed in, finally walking into Buck's study with a beer.

"Before the Treaty of 2170 before the Interplanetary War it was considered close to high treason in the magical community to talk about anything on their side of the fence. They could wipe your mind of all traces leaving you a mentally unstable persona non grata, and if you were magical you could be 'squibbed' where your internal magical coil is sealed off. Prior to the treaty some governments like in Japan, Russia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, French, and Germans all made soft breaches allowed so long as it was to people who could keep secrets or were direct family members. Other governments run by other countries, primarily the English and Bulgarians, stayed completely in the late fifteenth century making little advances in either technology or social structure. For close to fifteen hundred years their governments are still corrupt and run by the 'old boys club' where women have little to no rights and are expected to be housewives and mothers at an early age, earlier than normal that is.

"The more money you have the more power you have. Officially, but ignored by the 'Ministry of Magic' in England, the current Queen of England has absolute say in what they may or may not do as declared by Queen Victoria I in the treaty that would keep the mundane side out of their affairs and theirs out of mundane affairs. She had agents that would be her eyes, ears, mouth, and hand that would keep an eye on things. This has been the way it is ever since. When the Treaty of 2170 was signed the Queen relinquished control of the English magicals to a subsidiary committee of the UEG and UNSCDF. In fact prior to the Human-Covenant war most new ONI agents were required to take a six month deep cover mission inside of the still reclusive magical communities as the others were transparent with their doings.

"Hogwarts is a very prestigious boarding school where only the elite and powerful echelons in England are allowed. Their registration book has the names of the children that will attend the day that they're born based on who their parents were. Your Harry, whose last name used to be Potter, came from a very prestigious family on his father's side going back well back to the English magical community's founding. His mother was your average mundane born woman. Those not of 'noble blood' or even 'half-blooded', which Harry is, are treated similarly in a way that scarily similar to the way that racism was in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In fact if you are 'muggle born' you have to go through a rigorous screening process of which still very secretive. Those that are accepted pay higher than normal tuition fees as well as they pretty much disappear off the grid until they finish their seventh year. Most mundane-born children tend to have to go to community colleges to get their high school GED after retaking classes that they should have taken years prior."

"So you're pretty much saying that the English kids that go to Hogwarts are pretty much stupid when it comes to any knowledge outside of their school?" John asked.

"Indeed," Dare replied. "While the other schools globally, intersystem, and on other colonies try to integrate their students with the rest of the galaxy and the affairs in it, the English and select European schools to teach their students to become recluses from their friends and families that are not inside of the magical community."

"So if Harry has in fact been invited he'll most likely face blood-based racism, intellectual stunting, and backward sociological standards?"

"Yes and no." Everyone in the room looked confused. "Ten years ago there was this terrorist running around killing mundanes and mundane-born children alike because of blood purity. According to our records, the Blood Purity movement has existed since the 1700's, but it had always been political only, they never actually did anything to cause the deaths of people born or belonging to the mundane side of things."

"And ten years ago that changed," Buck stated.

Dare nodded. "Ten years ago a man came to power called Voldemort, which we in ONI have known since day one that it was an alias, gathered a lot of followers and one day started killing off mundanes, mundane-born, and even purebloods that disagreed with them."

"You said that the UNSC and UEG were now in official control over these societies. Why didn't we do anything?" John asked.

"At the time the Covenant and Insurrectionist movements were taking up all of our resources. Their Minister of Magic promised that they had it under control, but he was lying. Over the next ten years people died for no explained reason in the officially released autopsy reports, those registered with the UEG census and John and Jane Does alike. Finally on December 31, 2544 the killing stopped. An ONI agent who was in deep cover reported that after an attack on the Potter residence the Dark Lord known as Voldemort was killed in an explosion, the only survivor was your son," Dare said as she pointed to John. "The English magical community celebrated for days, driving the local police forces insane dealing with drunk and disorderly arrests as well as those without firework licenses; all of which disappeared from the 'drunk tank' the following day." She sent over another file, this time of a newspaper clipping with a completely abstract formatting. "That was the newspaper released on the magical side on November 1, 2544. 'Boy-who-lived slays He-who-must-not-be-named.'" She let that sink in, "Your son is pretty much considered a national hero."

"Then why was he left with those abusive relatives of his? If he was a national hero like you said surely someone would have willingly taken him in," said Dutch.

"An official press release stated that the current head of the Wizgamot, sort of like wizard Parliament, and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards named Albus way-too-many-names Dumbledore said that Harry would be kept safely away from those that would seek to harm him and trained by himself personally."

"Fat load of shit that was," Romeo chimed in finally. "What? We're all thinking it. If this guy's definition of safe is an abusive household and trained is being a servant to fat bastards I'd hate to see what he considers unsafe."

"That does bring up a point, though, why say that?" Buck asked.

There was silence which Dare broke, "They had just fought an opponent of which a good few thousand people died from directly or indirectly and this Dumbledore guy set up Harry as a celebrity or an icon to look up to." That sank in before she continued. "But why?"

"If he is setting up my son for something then when I'm done with him he'll find out the reason why we're called Helljumpers," John said firmly.

"Oorah," Mickey, Dutch, and Romeo replied. No one fucks with one of theirs, and Harry was like a cute younger brother. Or mascot. Or both.

"If anything happens to Harry, they'll regret it," Buck stated.

XxXxXxX

 _Meanwhile in Scotland, Hogwarts_

Dumbledore felt a shiver of fear run down his spine for no inexplicable reason to him. He reached over to his bowl of spiked lemon drops and ate one, feeling the Relaxation potion laced candy kicking in.

XxXxXxX

 _Evening. New Casbah, Tribute_

"Harry, could you come into the kitchen? Your father and I would like to have a word with you," Madeline said through the video call on Harry's augmented reality glasses.

"Sure, I'll be down in a minute," Harry replied as he saved his place in the eBook he was reading on his tablet. He walked into the kitchen to find his adoptive parents sitting at the kitchen table, his father with a mug of coffee and his mother with a cup of tea. "Am I in trouble?"

"Of course not, dear," Madeline replied.

"We just want to talk to you about your potential scholastic future," said John. "Remember that odd letter you got on the trip?" Harry nodded. "Well, it turns out that it is I fact an invitation to an exclusive magic school that your birth parents enrolled you in shortly after you were born. However there are some things about this school that doesn't sit quite right with us, but as it is your invitation we wanted to talk to you about it first. What do you think about it so far?"

"I don't know, it seems so far-fetched," Harry replied. "Does magic even exist?"

"It does and the society that this school is based in is very reclusive. So much so their society resembles one from the Dark Ages, as well as their technological level."

"You say that as if there are other societies out there," Harry phrased that not as a question, but a statement.

"There are several other schools on Earth all around the globe as well as one on Mars, and one on Ganymede. That's just in Sol and there's a planet in the colonies called New Avalon, a planet full of magic using humans and beings as well as people like your mother and me who all manage to live in harmony."

"How come I've never heard of New Avalon?"

"After humanity started colonized other planets, the system-wide Magical Congress petitioned the UEG to allow them to colonize a world consisting of both magical and mundane citizens, the catch would be that all of the mundane colonists would be allowed to know about magic. They wanted to recreate what King Arthur had when he was in power: Avalon, a place where magic and mundane peoples would co-exist with one another in harmony. The UEG green lit it under a social experiment. A thousand magicals and a thousand carefully selected mundanes were chosen based on their open-mindedness. They got equal thirds of skeptics, neutrals, and those that would be easy to convince. The one boon requested for the new colony would that it would be autonomous with any unneeded outside interferences. They managed to accomplish this goal and have been living peacefully with one another for the last few hundred years."

"Why didn't the government say anything then if it was a success?" Harry asked.

"The war with the Covenant happened. The top brass decided that the big reveal would happen at the end of the war, they just didn't expect the war to take twenty)seven years to do so. The new people in charge now are still debating on what to do about the reveal."

"Your Aunt Veronica said that she could make some calls to see if you can enroll in one of their schools next year. Otherwise, if you want to stay close to home we can see if we can find a full-time tutor," said Madeline.

Harry thought long and hard. Something inside him was pulling toward the English school, even if it was backward compared to the rest of the galaxy. There was also the fact that his birth parents had gone there. 'Perhaps I can find something out about them,' he thought to himself. "I want to give this Hogwarts school a try. I know it may not be all that glamorous but I'd be willing to give it a try for one year. My birth parents went there, maybe I'll learn some more about them there."

His parents both smiled but were inwardly frowning. They knew that Harry didn't know anything about his birth parents. Not even UEG censuses could tell where the Potters were buried as it was required by law to report when people died. Harry's mind was set, though the school and society still rubbed him the wrong way. 'I think a message needs to be sent,' John thought.

XxXxXxX

 _Three weeks later. April 13, 2554. Hogwarts._

There was an air of fear in the air around Hogwarts' pureblood students and the teachers. No it wasn't the Dark Lord or his followers, it was a green flying beast. But to those that were born into the 'Muggle' world or those that were half-bloods that were brought up the same way were treated to the sight of a D79H-TC, or the more commonly known under the misnomer of 'Pelican.' It circled the castle before activating its VTOL jets and landed in the massive courtyard with a whine as the engines shut down. Students and teachers gathered around the craft, the elder students and teachers had their wands drawn. The back hatch opened up to the sight of three men, well one was a man in his late twenties to early thirties in white military dress uniform, of the other two gender was indiscernible as their armor and polarized visors obscured any recognition.

The two armored soldiers were part of the infamous division of the UNSC marines, the Helljumpers, or ODSTs. The one on the man's right was holding a BR55 Battle Rifle at parade rest while on its right hip was a M7 submachine gun and on its other hip was a M6/SOCOM sidearm. The other had a MA5C Assault Rifle at parade rest and on its hip was also a M6/SOCOM but also a more exotic weapon it took away from the Human-Covenant war: the hilt of a deactivated Sangheili Type-1 Energy Sword. The white clad man only had a M6G holstered on his hip. He placed his Navy officer's hat on his head before stepping off the Pelican, the two ODSTs following in his wake.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" the witch named Minerva McGonagall asked, ready to stun the men.

"My security escort and I come in peace. I've always wanted to say this, take me to your leader," the man said in a deep baritone voice. When the magicals, the man assumed were the teachers, did nothing but stare at him he added, "An old friend of my father's asked me to personally deliver a message for him in his stead."

Minerva paused, looking at Severus as well as charms professor who were looking at her as well. She looked over the two highly armed soldiers and she realized that while they were armed, they weren't aiming their weapons at them at all. She only nodded before she started to walk towards the main gates, the military men in tow. As Minerva lead the trio away from the drop ship all of the students wondered why a decorated officer and two highly trained soldiers were here to deliver a message to the Headmaster himself of all things.

The trio marched in rhythm with each other, the footsteps of the armored ODSTs echoed through the murmuring halls. While the students and other teachers couldn't see it, but the duo kept their eyes watching the crowd, ready to dispatch any people who would wish their superior harm. They finally arrived at the enchanted entrance to the headmaster's office.

"Twinkies," the old witch said to the gargoyle door guardian. It moved aside allowing access to the stairs. They all walked up to the elaborate door before it opened to them automatically. "Professor, sorry to disturb you, but these men wish to relay a message to you. This is Mr.-." Her mind drew a blank as she realized she never got a name.

"Of course, of course. Please, my boy, what is your name? And your escorts?" Dumbledore asked forcefully, attempting to prod against their minds only to be momentarily lost inside an elaborate maze of ones and zeroes.

"Our names are not important, however, our message is," the uniformed man replied.

"But of course. What is your message?"

"I come on the behalf of John Dorian and his son whom you know as Harry Potter." Albus perked up at the name of the boy. "Harry has decided to attend your magical academy-."

"Excellent! Now of you'd be so kind as to leave, I do have things-."

"However there are some caveats," the officer interrupted. "First his last name is to be Dorian as that is what he and his family have decided as he would like a relatively normal schooling experience. Second, please inform any staff that have issues with his birth and/or adoptive parents to keep it to themselves and not to let their prejudices not come to light or there will be legal implications. Third, he will be allowed to bring any communication methods to contact his adoptive parents as they may be off world. They wanted to make it especially known that if Harry wishes to transfer for another magic institution, for whatever reason and at any time, you will respect his wishes and not approach him. Are we understood?" the marine said, leaning in on the headmaster.

"Nonsense. Hogwarts is the finest institution of magic in the world, young Harry will not wish to go to any other school."

"I know of at least three hundred schools that would be willing to debate that with you, and as you said 'in the world'," the marine said with a wry knowing grin.

"You said that as if humans have expanded to other worlds," Dumbledore said in disbelief.

"I didn't say anything, but I am asking if we're understood. Are we?"

"Yes. Of course. Anything for young Harry," Dumbledore said with a grandfatherly smile.

"Then we have an agreement." The three soldiers turned to leave when the man turned around in the doorway. "Also, we know that you tried to mentally probe us. This was your only by, old man. Next time you try that on any UNSCDF personnel will be met with deadly force. See to that it doesn't happen again."

All Dumbledore could do as the soldiers left his office and flew away was stare at the door in shock. The only thing going through his mind was, 'How did he know?'

XxXxXxX

 _1000 hours. June 29, 2554. Old London, Earth, Sol._

Harry was excited to get his school supplies for Hogwarts. He and his parents had spent the past month touring the solar system. The moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn. Olympus Mons on Mars, which was a ski resort. They then moved on to Earth where they spent a few days in each of the major cities with historical places like the Eifel tower and Arc de Triumph in Paris, the historical sites in Kyoto Japan, the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City, the Opera Hall of Sydney and the UNSC high command center in Sydney, the Vatican, the Coliseum in Rome, historic Washington D.C., and finally they arrived in London and visited many locations they could that weren't destroyed by the Covenant.

Now he was with his parents in front of a dingy old pub that looked like something straight out of the 1600's called the Leaky Cauldron. Harry had decided to wear a t-shirt with the words 'This is the worst shirt ever. Of all time.' written on it with the image of a Brute spike grenade on the back of the shirt. He also wore tan cargo shorts along with skate style shoes that were coming back into style again. He also wore a ball cap to hide the scar that would identify him as the boy who lived instead of a patron trying to get his school supplies.

"So this is the entrance to the magical world?" Harry asked no one in particular. "I'm not impressed."

"Maybe it'll be better once we get inside, you know how magicals in these isles are reclusive and don't like mundanes like your mother and I stumbling across them," John replied.

Harry shrugged as the family crossed the busy Old London street and entered the dingy pub. As they entered the inside of the establishment was just as dark and filthy as the outside was. The one constant thing that all the patrons of the pub had in common was that they were staring at the family. John walked up to the older and middle-aged man behind the bar, he was more than likely the owner based on his age.

"Can I help you?" the older man asked.

"Yes, you can. My son is to begin his schooling at Hogwarts and we need some assistance in getting into the alley," John replied.

"Ah, of course! Newcomers to the wonderful world of magic! Jane, please watch the bar for a moment, I will be back shortly. Please follow me. My name is Tom, owner of the establishment," the old man, now named Tom, said as he held out his hand.

John took and shook the man's hand, "John. It's a pleasure," he replied. The innkeeper led them into what could be described as a beer garden-like area. He tapped four stones in a particular pattern on the wall, a moment later the wall opened to reveal the alley beyond it. "Thank you for your assistance. Would you mind telling me where the bank is?"

He pointed down the alley. "Just follow the main road here and you'll see a great white building. You can't miss it," Tom replied.

As the family walked down the narrow street that was suitable for bicycle or motorcycle traffic they were looked at strangely by the inhabitants but was quickly ignored as they too had come to the conclusion that this was a family taking their child on a shopping trip for Hogwarts supplies. The trio walked to the bank doors which had two goblins in battle armor and spears ready to deal with any threat. John honestly wondered how they'd do against an Elite. The heavy doors had a warning written in both Gobbledygook and English for those who intended to take what was not theirs from the bank.

Walking inside they saw several lines of people waiting to be attended to. Another kiosk opened and the family quickly walked over before another could get in front of them. Those that were behind them were grumbling complaints.

"NEXT!" the teller cried. The Dorians approached. "How might I assist you?" it asked with an annoyed tone, not even looking up from its parchment.

"My son would like to make a withdrawal from his account," John stated respectfully as one could.

"Key," it replied holding out a hand.

John paused. He didn't know that Harry needed a key. "My apologies, I was unaware that a key was needed. We don't have one."

The goblin looked up from his parchment and set the quill he was using down. "There is another way for the child to access his account. This will require a blood test."

"That will be fine."

The goblin's now worn smile crept everyone who saw it out, "However if he fails not only will he be punished to fullest extent of the law, but you will as well. I hear that keelhauling is the new fad for executioners."

"I'll do it," Harry spoke up confidently. "I am the true owner of the account so I have nothing to fear."

"You show confidence that the other thieves over the years have not. Of that I commend you. GRIPHOOK! Take these three to the Account Testing Chamber." Another goblin came forwards and gestured for them to follow him. "May whatever deity you believe in have mercy upon you if the test comes up false. Have a nice day."

"Well he's a big ol' ball of sunshine," Harry quipped.

The family walked into a room with guards at all the exits deep within the bank. The only things inside the very Spartan room was an aristocratic wooden desk with another goblin sitting at it with a piece of parchment and a black knife sitting on the desk.

 **(Incomplete due to story changes outlined in an AN in the original "Wizard from Tribute")**

XxXxXxX

 **Please note that again this was the original story that I wanted to publish but due to votes on polls that I put up saying that they wanted me to have the story resume during Year 4 and the Triwizard Tournament as well as a vote determining whether or not the Rookie would survive; add on to that a bunch of other plot points that I was looking in to and this original plot is now null and void except for the first chapter itself which shall remain untouched by me.**

 **This chapter is only to show what could have been, nothing more.**


	13. A Naruto pilot (Archipelago)

**Alright, so this next idea is a** _ **Naruto**_ **one. This primarily comes from an idea that I came up with over a year ago that I started writing in a tab inside of OneNote that I totally forgot about inside that notebook until recently and finish it up so that I can release it into the world inside of my repository as I originally started writing it during those last thirty or so chapters of** _ **Naruto**_ **. What is that idea? Well, first of all, an alternate Kaguya origin story that goes farther back and relates to our world as many different technologies that are in that world are shared with ours along with Shinto gods and goddesses having attacks named after them. The second is a pseudo-crossover with** _ **Stargate: Atlantis**_ **, one of my favorite TV sci-fi dramas/space operas of all time. This culminates in the idea of the "Archipelago", a floating armada of ships that's always on the move and so secretive about their existence that they're only talked about as myths because no one's been able to prove they exist.**

 **Content: AU!Naruto-verse, AU!OOC!Naruto, Hidden!Uzumaki remnants, Technology differences.**

 **Rating: T+ for non-explicit, referenced content.**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **Naruto**_ **belongs to Kishi. References to** _ **Stargate: Atlantis**_ **belong to MGM and NBC. Any other references belong to their respective owners as well. I only own my laptop and my copy of MS Word. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

Key acronyms:

BKA – Before Kyuubi Attack: Using Naruto's birth and the attack as a baseline, dates before those two.

AKD – After Kyuubi Defeat: Same as before, using the attack and Naruto's birthday as a baseline, time after.

LST – Lantean Standard Time: AKA Zulu time or GMT.

XxXxXxX

Two thousand years ago sounds like a long time, however, that's how long it has been since great cities were commonplace and national superpowers ruled and protected their interests. It was a time of great innovation; life expectancies doubled as new medical technologies emerged like minuscule robots to repair innumerable ailments such as weakened blood vessels in the brain that would later become aneurysms or eliminate cancer cells. Asteroid mining became the new business investment as metals like iron and gold were mined relatively effortlessly with the use of drones causing prices to drop on items that used them. The first groups of colonists left for Earth-like planets using perfected stasis technology. However, this age of peace and innovation was not one destined to last. As with all humans, the desire for power is always there, for some it's greater than others. No one knows how it started exactly, but the world didn't end with a *bang*, but with balls of fire. Weapons so powerful that later generations would list them as the "Lances of the Gods" after the names of these weapons were lost to the sands of time. Governments, some more inept than others, prepared decades before then. They created massive bunkers near most major cities that would put the sheltered citizens into a long-term stasis until it was safe for them to reemerge decades if not centuries later.

However due to the long amounts of time in stasis, loss of power, and many other catastrophes inside these bunkers many were added to the long list of the dead. They had created massive repositories of knowledge both in major cities and smaller towns, knowledge that the reemerging humans could then use to try and rebuild society. Hopefully this time around with better results. Some of these repositories were found by humanity, the ones that did rebuild what they could in their limited numbers, while others roamed continents trying to rebuild.

Due to the fragile nature of the world, something was created unknowingly using lost technologies of genetic manipulation and nanotechnology. This sentient plant/animal hybrid became what was to be later called the Juubi. It bore a fruit that was imbued with a powerful energy that was absorbed during the planet's rebirth that all could feel. Many were drawn to it, attempting to take this power for themselves; in doing so, they all died. For some it was quick, for others it was agonizing. But one thing remained constant, they all failed to take the power for themselves. That is until a young woman approached it. With the sole purpose to end all wars with the power gained. A noble cause, if any. At first, that is what she did, she forced all sides into submission and forced them to serve her lest they incur her wrath.

An age of peace followed of a hundred of years, an age known as 'The age of the Rabbit Goddess.' In that time the woman fell in love and had twin sons named Hagaromo and Hamura. She lived amongst the humans of which she ruled for fifteen years before she became corrupted as she had a power that no one else had, save for her sons. As she used the Infinite Tsukuyomi to build an army of zombies to conquer the rest of the world, along with merging with the Shinju. For fifteen years her army of White Zetsus roamed the world, conquering all in their path. Her sons, appalled by her actions, rebelled and sealed their mother's chakra inside themselves and banished their mother's Shinju body inside the moon. The younger brother would guard her body while the older would spread his ideals of Ninshu to the rest of the populace in hopes that this new power would be used for peace, not war.

Hagaromo did not know that less than two generations later the humans would use the same power that he preached peace for the use of would be used for war yet again. Cities would be demolished and millions of lives lost, all because man could not control his greed. Eventually, the eldest brother vanished from the face of the earth. Some say he died of old age, others say he ascended to a higher plane of existence; to this day no one knows, but one thing is true, he is known widely for his god-like eyes and his misnomer of The Sage of the Six Paths. The time will come yet again when The Rabbit Goddess will be released once more.

XxXxXxX

 _60 BKA._

Waves broke in front of the battleship named _Iron Sides_. The steel hulled vessel closed in on an island no larger than twelve square kilometers.

"Captain, we are close enough to deploy Zodiacs," a crew member stated.

The captain drank from his mug of coffee and nodded, "Deploy recon teams. You know the drill."

"Aye, aye sir."

On the topside of the ship, a group of seven men and women gathered, waiting for their commanding officer for instructions. Finally, Lieutenant Sanders arrived. "Gentlemen and ladies," he said. They stood at attention, "At ease," he said and they all relaxed a bit, their weapons at parade rest. "We have been tasked with recon to see if this island would be a suitable landmass for our fleet to use. We know the drill: get in, search for inhabitants, get out. If there are any locals we avoid them and leave, if there aren't we report that we have some new property. You have five minutes to finalize your loadouts, copy?"

"Yes, lieutenant," they replied as one.

The lieutenant checked his own loadout which consisted of an older designed assault carbine, a semi-automatic sniper rifle, and a heavy pistol. Seeing that he was prepared with several magazines for each weapon as well as a bullet chambered, he stepped into the boat, his team following shortly after. He gave a hand signal to the crane operator who dropped the landing craft into the water. The driver pushed the acceleration lever forward and the boat rocketed off from its 'mother' ship.

Landing less than a minute later the occupants left the boat, weapons raised, scanning the environment. Barely audible sayings "Clear" were heard by each of the members. "Ramirez and Gleeson, stay here and guard our exfil," the lieutenant said, getting a nod from the two men. "You five are with me, keep your eyes peeled."

The slowly crept inside of the forest, ready for anything. An hour later the lieutenant saw lights just past the tree line. He held up a fist to signal them to stop, then for them to fan out. He reached up to his neck, tapping his radio, "Eyes open."

"Lt, it looks like we have a small village, how do you want to handle this?" the female member asked.

He looked and saw people wandering in the streets, celebrating some sort of festival. All around the town's square, there was a reoccurring symbol or insignia of an orange spiral. "Turn around and pack it up, we're heading back to the ship," he replied. Slowly the team started to backtrack towards their boat. "Ramirez, we've got a village and we're on our way back. Prepare for exfil." He got no response. "Ramirez, what's your twenty?" Again he got no response. "Gleeson?" No one responded. He changed the channel to the one used on the bridge, "Captain, Ramirez and Gleeson have gone dark."

Silence filled the radio for a few seconds. "Get out of there, they might have had a first contact situation. The location of Atlantis must remain a secret," the captain replied.

"Alright team, back to the boat. Double time," he said into the radio. They got up and ran towards their Zodiac at best speed.

A few minutes passed before the female of the group spoke up, "Sir, I've got movement on the motion tracker."

"Where?" the lieutenant asked.

She paused in disbelief. "All around us, sir," she replied slowly in shock. At once everyone raised their weapons and disengaged safeties, ready for whatever was to happen next. Almost if on cue by some god watching, twenty dark-clad people came down from the trees they had been perched on. All of them were wearing masks and brandishing various bladed weapons.

A silence filled the clearing around them as no one moved. Finally, the lieutenant spoke up, "Hello… gentlemen," he guessed as the newcomers' clothing did not reveal their gender. "How might we help you on this fine night?" he asked.

"You have been caught trespassing on Ushizo, state your intentions," the leader said, a female voice behind the mask.

The lieutenant put on his best pleasant face, "Oh, we were just in the neighborhood looking for a pal of ours." He then saw Gleeson being held by blade-point. "Look, there he is," he bluffed. "Isn't that right Corporal Gleeson?"

Gleeson looked beyond uncomfortable, especially with a blade against his throat. "Yeah. It's nice to see you again, sir," Gleeson said unconvincingly.

"You lie," the man holding Gleeson hostage said emotionlessly, holding the blade close enough to draw blood.

"Speak the truth or your man will perish," the female leader stated.

"Well, we were looking for him," the lieutenant replied honestly, his aim never straying from the woman's chest, his finger on the trigger. "Our orders were to scout out this area and if we found any locals we were to return. Looks we found locals, so if you'll let my men go we'll be on our way."

"We cannot do that, you were able to get through the whirlpools around the island."

"Well algorithms run by highly advanced computers tend to do that," the lieutenant cheekily replied, shrugging only slightly.

No one moved as they waited for the other the move first. The lieutenant knew that his men were outnumbered at least three to one. They had run-ins with ninja before, usually in non-combat scenarios where advance scouting teams posed as traveling merchants on the way home after a sale. He knew that they were fast, scarily fast to the extent they could move faster than the eye could process. They also had mystic abilities and attacks that used chakra to fuel them, an internal energy that the Fleet scientists had been unable to implement into their armed forces both naturally or artificially through the closest they'd gotten was cybernetic enhancements. Even though they were not fast enough to dodge magnetically accelerator assisted rounds propelled by gunpowder with obscenely high rounds per minute, they were outnumbered and outgunned.

"Perhaps we can end this standoff without unneeded bloodshed," an older male voice said, stepping out of the shadows.

"Wārupūru-sama (1)," the leader said, turning to her leader with a bow.

The lieutenant kept his aim on the woman while looking at the Kage out of the corner of his eye. He was older in appearance yet he could tell that his eyes told him that the Kage was MUCH older than he appeared. He was sort of heavy-set, but not too much, had red hair, and had a jolly smile that hid his intentions of retribution if the Fleet forces assaulted him or his shinobi. He wore robes with an ice blue trim with a hat that had the kanji for 'Whirlpool' on the front of it.

The Kage turned his attention to the lieutenant. "So you are from the Archipelago?"

"Depends on why you're asking," the lieutenant asked in return.

"The Archipelago has gone by many names such as the Archipelago of Steel, the Fleet in the Fog, and the Wanderers, haven't they?"

"Among a few others," the lieutenant shrugged. "What are you getting at?"

"We can benefit from an alliance with one another. Exchange technology with us and in return we'll provide several shinobi volunteers to live among your people to both train your children in the use of chakra but also them possibly intermarrying with your people, uniting our two nations. You provide assistance to us in our times of need and we'll return the favor in your times of need."

"We'll have to contact our superior officer who in turn needs to contact our ruling council for approval for such an alliance."

The Kage nodded in understanding, of course, these were soldiers following orders and had no say over what their nation decided. "That is acceptable. Please, don't take too long, though."

XxXxXxX

 _Twenty hours later. 0800 LST. Admiralty Council Chambers, Atlantis._

The ruling council of admirals, a combination of military dictatorship and democratically elected officials in which the officers and civilians elected a captain of their ship to become the leader of the battle group which would award the elected Admiral a place on the Admiralty Council. Candidates for election needed at least ten years of experience in commanding a vessel after becoming a commissioned officer. After having at least ten years under their belt they had to have some kind of experience in commanding other ships and forces before. Some fleets had more heated elections than others. Among the admirals on the Admiralty, one was selected amongst them to become Grand Admiral of the entire Archipelago. However, the requirements and process on how the other decided on who was a candidate for Grand Admiral was known to the public, though the choice was announced to the fleet and her citizens.

Inside the closed session of the Council chambers stood Sanders in his formal uniform, his cap under his arm as he stood at attention behind his Admiral, Admiral Octavian. Sanders had been airlifted via VTOL under the cover of night to return to Atlantis for an emergency Council meeting to discuss the proposal set forth by Kage of Whirlpool. Currently, the members of the council were arguing on how they should proceed. Some wished for absolute isolationism while others saw the opportunity set in front of them, that being that they were offered not only trained ninja who would train their soldiers in how to use chakra, but also the possibility of creating new families that would have a basis in both cultures. These new chakra-enhanced soldiers would be capable of using both the weapons of the Fleet, but also the mystic and destructive abilities different jutsu that chakra fueled. The only absolute downside would be restructuring the entire military education system once the children came of age and creating new tactics combining the two combat styles.

"How do we even know we can trust this ninja?" one Admiral asked, quite loudly.

They turned to Sanders. "Lieutenant Sanders was the only one to come into contact with Whirlpool's Kage and speak with him," the Grand Admiral stated, silencing the other members. The Grand Admiral turned his attention to Sanders. "Lieutenant Sanders, you and your scouting team are the only ones that came into contact with the Kage, what do you think of his character?"

The lieutenant stepped forward. "He seems like an honorable person and someone who would honor his deals. While I personally would rather deal with the samurai, as their code of honor would prevent them from turning on us so long as we held up our side of the deal, he seems like one of the most honorable ninja we will ever come across," Sanders reported.

The Grand Admiral 'hmm'ed in thought, his hands folded. "Thank you for your assessment."

"Admiral, you can't be serious, taking a junior officer's observations as truth?" another asked incredulously.

"And you haven't had contact with this ninja, he has," he chastised his colleague. "I put forth a motion to form an alliance with the ninja village of Ushizo for the trade of technology in return for trainers and plausible citizens. All in favor, say aye."

"Aye!" said a resounding majority of the council members.

"And those opposed?"

"Nay," three members replied.

"Then the motion carries," the Grand Admiral said as he slammed down his gavel making the decision final and ending the council meeting. Members filed out of the room mostly pleased with their decision, the three that disagreed displeased with their fellow admirals. As for the Grand Admiral, he had a public event to plan.

XxXxXxX

 _Ushizo, one week later. Outside the Ushizo Kage's office._

There was a reason why the Grand Admiral waited for a week to pass. The Admiral and the Kage of Ushizo were ironing out the final details of their agreement that would unite their two great civilizations. This had been done via the use of video equipment that bounced a signal from Atlantis to Whirlpool by relaying it from one local ship to another to help hide the location of any technology-minded ninja or samurai who wanted to know where they were.

The details that were ironed out were as such: Ushizo would send one hundred volunteers, of which they would be various levels of ninja that would both be able to teach children of various levels as well as integrate with the communities they would become a part of; and in return the Fleet would build a clandestine submarine base and deploy technologies for consumer consumption and other technologies to be researched by their scientists whose results would be shared with the Fleet. Hidden heavy weaponry was hidden on the island that would be operated by the local ninja forces and taught by the locally stationed Fleet forces.

A single Blackhawk helicopter flew over the island housing the 'capital' of Ushizo. It was fairly well hidden from prying eyes on the ground level, though the same could not be said for anyone using technology that allowed for imaging from extreme altitudes when you were intentionally looking for it. The occupants flew over the beautifully serene island that seemed to house a tropical climate based on the plant life that they could see. The helicopter landed on the roof of the Kage offices after circling a few times around the small city, the pilots scouting out threats before any could become an issue. When they had finally touched down the side door opened and the Grand Admiral, with his elite guard detail in tow in case something went horribly wrong, exited the vehicle and walked towards the waiting Kage and his guard detail and selected advisors beside him. The Blackhawk took off and flew back towards the carrier that brought them here in the first place.

The Fleet group stopped at arm's length from the Ushizo group and waited in a borderline uncomfortable silence. The Kage extended his hand forward and greeted, "Welcome Grand Admiral of the Fleet in the Fog to our humble village."

The Grand Admiral put his hand forward as well and shook the hand of the Kage. "And we thank you for your hospitality," he replied. He took a moment to look around at the view that the building gave of the village and heard what sounded like a crowd gathered around the front of the building if the chattering was anything to go by. "Well then, shall we get this show on the road?"

"So we should," the Kage replied. The two respective leaders of their great societies walked to the railing where the Admirals suspicions of them being above a crowd was confirmed. The Kage then announced in a resounding voice, "People of Ushizo, I present to you our new ally and friend with whom our great society will flourish with their continued support." The Admiral stepped forward and allowed the crowd below to see him. The crowd below cheered in excitement.

The Admiral then cleared his throat and announced with gusto, "I and my people look forward to working with you and living amongst you." Cheers from the mostly red-headed crowd drowned out any further possible speech that the Grand Admiral could have prepared.

XxXxXxX

 _Konoha. Ten minutes before Kyuubi attack._

If there was anything that Kushina Uzumaki knew, it was that she blamed her secret husband for all the pain he was putting her through at the moment; after all, childbirth without an epidural or anesthesia tends to be a painful experience. Why? She also blamed the Kyuubi for that. How come? After much experience and experimentation on her own, the Kyuubi's chakra would protect its host and filter out any harmful substances. She could never get hammered drunk, although she could get beyond buzzed when she did drink enough to kill several lesser men although it would never last long, and most poisons would become inert before they could cause significant damage to her body (2). That also meant that painkillers wouldn't work for her at all. After all, in a high enough dosage painkillers can kill you, shinobi or not.

One good thing did come about of being the host of Kyuubi, she had a 'friend' she could talk to. After much deliberations between the two of them, Kushina and the sealed demon formed a working relationship. One of which being that they would have a form of equivalent exchange, something that Kushina had learned about when she was young and back with the Fleet before she came here to Konoha in a part of an alliance deal with Konoha, although Ushizo didn't need it as they had the Fleet. For every minute that she drew upon the Kyuubi's power, she would have to allow the Kyuubi to control her body for that amount of time in return. The funny thing was for years all it ever did was binge eat and binge drink. There was a reason for that, though, being trapped inside a prison that was sensory deprived except for communicating with its host gave the Kyuubi a sense of longing for the outside world.

Another funny thing about the Kyuubi? It also took the form of a fox traited, anthropomorphic woman inside her mind with ears and a set of nine tails (3). What made that weird was that the Kyuubi was a spirit or physical manifestation of chakra and therefore genderless and sexless. When she was younger the Kyuubi explained to her the longer it was inside a host, the more it took on the host's physical and mental traits. For example, the red hair it had was a slightly lighter shade of red that the Uzumaki were well known for primarily due to the fact that the container before Kushina, Mito, was another Uzumaki. Its food cravings were because of both of its hosts were both gluttons for specific foods and somehow never gained a single kilo, despite the fact that both were shinobi and worked out on a daily basis; that amount should have forcefully retired both of them by weight gain alone.

As the Kyuubi took its bestial form of a fox, it also took many of its personality traits from that animal: being sly and tricky before pouncing. Once Kushina had turned thirteen the Kyuubi played a specific prank on her that would repeat on a constant basis. When she was at the Academy she had a few crushes on a few boys, one of which being her future husband, and she fantasized what their lives would be after becoming a ninja. That was as far as her fantasies went. However, once puberty kicked its ugly head her mind was filled with explicit images from the Kyuubi itself of hypothetical scenarios talked about by Mito to her husband as well as mental reenactments of things they actually did in their bedroom replacing Mito with Kushina and First Hokage replaced with whomever Kushina had a crush on at the time. When the Kyuubi decided to strike, it was always at random and always in public in plain view of her current crush. Eventually, Kushina got used to these fantasies and adapted accordingly as any other young woman would do in her situation. There was one conclusion that both the Kyuubi and Kushina plainly agreed on and that was that Mito was a very reserved person in public but a completely different, and kinky, person behind closed doors.

Wanting to mentally torture its container more, the Kyuubi decided to 'gift' Kushina a yearly present: the fox's mating season. Now at the time she had only started to date Minato, as in they were to have their first date mere days before her first 'heat' would arrive, she had only explored her own body when confronted with an urge or the Kyuubi's mental images every so often only with her hands. But when the absolute urge to mate with the closest man repeatedly until she became pregnant with his child, it hit her with the force of an out of control carrier smashing into a patrol boat. She had to use every bit of strength and mental capacity that wasn't pulling her towards the front door of her apartment in the upper class area of the village and forcefully make her way into her neighbor's apartment and let him have his way with her to lock herself into her own home using a combination of dense chakra metal locks that were already installed on the door and sealing arrays to reinforce windows, walls, and doors to keep her from escaping.

A week later she walked out of her home disheveled, tired, partially dehydrated, starved, sore, and reeking of sex. The first thing she did was make a trip down to the local bath for a long soak, followed by a trip to the furniture store to replace the things she had used as objects as a substitute for the male anatomy, and finally home to dispose of what she had destroyed and to clean and air out the apartment as it smelled like 'shame and embarrassment' to her (4). Due to a Kunoichi's status when it came to being a POW or captured as a prisoner, the village encouraged marrying early in life and producing children before they died an earlier death than what would be considered normal for a civilian under normal circumstances. That being said, once you became an official genin of Konoha you were allowed to drink alcohol and enter adult only areas that were off limits to civilians until they turned eighteen. One of those areas being the local sex shop. Kushina lost count of how much money she spent at that place over the years she had been cursed with 'It' to keep herself from going on some sort of nymphomaniac sex spree. It was safe to say by the time she did move in with Minato that she had a VERY sizable toy collection ranging from vanilla toys to fetish toys; that, and she had become a VIP customer getting a sizable discount. The only good thing about 'It' was that it made her sex life with Minato great when they did start having sex. It was funny now that she looked back on it when she thought she killed her love after the week long 'sexpalooza'. It would be a year later when her now baby would be conceived because of 'It', and she was both grateful for that and cursing it at the same time for obvious reasons.

Kushina cried out in pain as she felt another contraction. "I see the head," Biwako said calmly. "He's almost out."

"WELL, IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T FEEL LIKE IT!" Kushina shouted back.

Time seemed to pass like hours as Kushina's secret husband attempted to console her, to which she instinctively responded to his hand holding during a contraction by crushing his hand. Finally, it felt like the pressure was released from within her to which Biwako announced to the couple, "It's a boy!" Followed by a baby's cry. Biwako continued with her midwife duties and wrapped the newborn in a blanket after cleaning him off. She approached the new parents holding the newborn, but before she could hand the child over a spatial distortion opened behind her and before she could properly react she was stabbed through the heart, the sword used emerging from her front just centimeters above the newborn.

The sword was drawn back at an angle, causing Biwako to spin around to face her attacker. Between one blink and another the baby was in her hands one moment, and in her attacker's the next. Being within arm's reach she noticed something immediately about the man who attacked her. He stood relatively tall and wore a mask with a single eye hole with a flame pattern trailing from it. The feature she immediately noticed was the Sharingan eye behind that hole. Her lips started to move to say the word 'Uchiha', as that was the only clan that had that specific bloodline, but the masked man was one step ahead of her and slit her throat on a second swipe and her final words were lost in wet, bloody gurgles.

The man sheathed his sword before addressing the couple who now noticed that their ANBU guards were dead on the ground. "I do apologize for the mess, but if you'd be so kind I would like to take Uzumaki-san for a walk," the masked man said apathetically.

"Like hell," Minato replied, drawing one of his custom kunai blades.

The masked man then pulled out a kunai of his own and held it to the child's neck, close enough that he could easily end the infant's short existence but far enough away to not kill him. "It would be certainly too bad if your son's life ended just when it has just begun," he threatened.

Minato paused. It was only a split second, but it was long enough for the masked man to make his move. Instead of killing his son, the masked man created a space-time distortion and vanished inside of it. Minato looked at his wife who nodded and said, "Go." Minato then performed a specific jutsu only known to every elected Hokage: Sense Presence in Village. What the technique did was simple, it sensed the presence of every being inside the village and allowed a Hokage, Minato in this instance, to find any specific person he was looking for. He found the presence of the assailant as well as his son outside of the village's wall boundary. A thing that Minato noted immediately was that the man both seemed both familiar and not at the same time, and that disturbed him. Minato then vanished in the yellow flash of his signature technique Hiraishin leaving Kushina alone in the formerly secret cave.

Kushina knew she was weak at the moment, after all, there hasn't been a mother that she knew of that would bounce back from giving birth almost immediately. She knew that her friend Mikoto was back to her old self, with a baby in her arms, the next day after she had her son Sasuke. She both beat herself up for letting her son get taken and letting her husband face this unknown entity but at the same time she didn't blame herself. There was another problem, however, the Kyuubi was getting restless for some unknown reason and was pressing against the original seal that imprisoned it inside of her. She was so focused on keeping the seal steady with the sealing arts that she learned from her parents and grandparents before her that she didn't even notice another presence in the room, or that the presence was about to knock her out. The Kyuubi shrieked out a warning, but Kushina was too late to react and the next thing she saw was the inky blackness of unconsciousness.

XxXxXxX

 _Field outside of Konoha..._

Minato fought with the unknown man longer than he wanted. The first reason was that he was forced to use precision jutsu instead of ones that would completely obliterate his enemy because his enemy was currently holding on to his son. Every time he would use a ranged jutsu or throw kunai at him, he would dodge before they could hit. Every time he attempted to get in close the man would use his son as a human shield, forcing Minato to back off followed by him getting kicked away by his enemy. The more that Minato fought him, the more that he believed that he had faced this man once before, once upon a time, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out where or when that might have happened. There was also something wrong with the man himself, it was like he wasn't actually him.

Then the course of the battle shifted, and by shifted see 'stopped'. Minato's enemy stopped as the air in the night changed from a relatively calm one to an outright oppressive one. It was though a great evil had been unleashed. The unknown man then looked at his bare sleeve as though he were looking at a watch, "Would you look at the time, the party's just about to begin."

Before Minato could even begin to ask what the man had meant, he exploded in a cloud of white smoke; the same kind that Shadow Clones made when they were dispelled. It dawned on Minato that this entire time he had been fighting a Shadow Clone while the real masked man had been off doing Kami knows what. He dashed forward and gently caught his son in his arms. He looked down at his son and was astonished to see that his newborn son was sleeping away as if nothing was wrong despite the fact that there had been two people fighting. Minato then connected the dots: the masked man lured him away by threatening his son, they fought, and after an evil presence had been unleashed the man then disappeared. His eyes widened in shock as he said, "Kushina."

XxXxXxX

 _The 'secret' cave. Minutes after resealing of the Kyuubi._

Kushina knew that one thing was certain in the next few minutes: she was going to die. Her husband had already passed on to be digested for an eternity in the Shinigami's stomach in return for devouring the Yin half of the Kyuubi's chakra. She would never get to see her little boy grow up. She would never get to see her boy off to his first day of the Ninja Academy. She would never be able to guide him through his first crush. Dance with him at his wedding in the tradition that the Fleets culture came from. Spoil his children rotten. For having to miss these golden opportunities that she wanted to have with her son she silently wept. After all, she wanted her son to see her not go whimpering into death, assuming he would even remember this at all.

She was quickly bleeding out, but then again that tends to happen when you get the claw of a massive, borderline immortal being through your torso. How she was holding on this long, she did not know. Tenacity perhaps? She didn't know but she appreciated that she was at least able to spend her last minutes on this planet with her son. She was so engrossed with enjoying this moment while it lasted that she didn't notice Hiruzen Sarutobi appearing near her wearing his full combat armor.

He observed the room and saw his successor's body laying lifeless on the ground near his wife. He also saw Biwako's body lying on the ground further away, he didn't need a doctor to tell him that his wife had long since passed on to the Pure World. He made sure to note that he would need to plan her funeral, something that he hoped that he would never have to plan as he hoped she would outlive him. He looked back to Kushina's downed form and saw that she was barely moving.

He quickly made his way over to her and knelt beside her. "Kushina, what happened?" he asked.

Kushina looked up to her husband's predecessor with tear filled eyes. "A masked man attacked us after Naruto was born and took him, hostage. He killed Biwako before taking Naruto away, leading Minato on and leaving me here. But it was all a ruse," she lamented weakly. "I was snatched and the Kyuubi was released, as you might have noticed. Minato rushed back and lured it back here." Kushina paused for a moment, using a grimace to hide it, considering if she should reveal what they really did. She couldn't entirely trust Hiruzen, even though she saw him as a grandfatherly figure who would more than likely put the needs of the village first rather than her son. She then made her decision and continued, "Minato used the Shinigami's Seal on himself, completely absorbing the Kyuubi into himself while I held it in place with my Chakra Chains."

Hiruzen sighed. "So the Nine-Tails is forever gone?" he asked.

"As far as we know, yes." Kushina then coughed up a fairly concerning amount of blood. "Sarutobi-sama, I know that I am dying, containers that have had their tenant removed don't live long after it is extracted. I would like to ask you one final request."

"Anything," Hiruzen replied.

"I don't want my little Naruto to grow up an orphan, I want him to be taken to his family to grow up in a loving environment."

"Family? Minato was the only child in his family and his parents have been long dead, and the Uzumaki were destroyed when Ushizo was destroyed."

"That's what we wanted everyone to think," Kushina revealed with a knowing smirk, the kind she would have immediately after performing one of her infamous pranks on an unknowing target.

His eyes widened in surprise, "Then you mean-?"

"I would like that to still remain our little secret," she said before coughing up more blood. "There is a device on my dresser. Open it and type, 'another day passes on the sea and now I come back to thee.' Someone will answer. Follow their instructions to the letter. They'll make sure my little Naruto grows up right."

Sarutobi sighed and lamented the loss that the young Namikaze heir could provide for the village, but he would honor a friend and ally's last request. He was a man of honor after all. "Of course."

"Thank you," she said weakly, feeling that her end was nigh. She looked towards her sleeping son once more. "Grow strong, Naru-chan. No matter what you do your father and I will always love you and be proud of your accomplishments," she whispered in his ear before kissing him on the forehead. Black started to fill her field of vision as it slowly crept in.

It was strange, dying that is. There are multiple interpretations of what someone sees in their last moments. For some it's the largest high they'll ever get. For some they relive their entire lives in fast forward, pausing on the best and worst moments of their lives. For Kushina, however, she saw a possible future that she and her family could have had. Having a few more children, twin girls and another boy, all living together in relative peace (5). Minato going off to war only to return the next day ending the conflict with minimal bloodshed on both sides. Her watching each of her children up at the altar or at a shrine to exchange wedding vows with their destined ones, and being 'glomped' by her grandchildren when she came to visit her children. She would never get to experience this in real life, but she would at least be able to dream about it. And then Kushina drifted off into oblivion one last, and final time.

Hiruzen, who now held the infant after Kushina's grip had lessened on the child, felt That child shift and begin to cry feeling the presence of his mother no longer there, when in reality the infant felt his mother's life end, though he wouldn't know that for years to come. Hiruzen comforted the child as best he could, after all, it had been years since he had last held an infant.

He then left the cooling corpses of his countrymen to fulfill Kushina's final wish. As Hiruzen vanished from sight in a puff of smoke, another appeared in the cave wearing a completely blank ANBU styled mask wielding a needle as it approached both bodies of the now ex-Hokage and his secret wife (6).

XxXxXxX

 _Hi no Kuni coastline, abandoned coastal village. 12 hours later._

Hiruzen traveled to the abandoned coastal village that sat on the opposite side of the deserted and abandoned Ushizo, the island of which he could just see barely on the horizon. This small fishing and trade stop village had been around since the founding of Konoha and was a primary jumping point to gain entry to Ushizo. It had been a very prosperous village that saw many businesses catering to many needs like food, lodging, marine supplies, a prestigious red light district, and other general supply stores. It had been abandoned shortly after the fall of Ushizo due to the fact that the Whirlpool Navy had been the ones responsible for protecting the coastal village from pirates and raiders on the sea while samurai loyal to the Fire Daimyo or locally garrisoned Leaf ninja would take care of any land based raiders that would come their way. Shortly after the Fall of Ushizo pirates attacked in mass and any locals were forced to move inland to other towns or villages where a more established military or militia force could protect them. The once prosperous village was now a ghost town where if one was attuned to spirits you could see what life was like many years ago. Many belongings that were considered trash to the pirates and raiders were left in scattered messes.

Hiruzen, holding a bundled up Naruto, walked into the abandoned village with his long time friend Enma beside him as potential combat support as he would only be able to use one hand if it came to a fight, clad in a hooded cloak. Back in Konoha, he had left a Shadow Clone in his place to take care of any arrangements for the funerals for Minato, Kushina, the ninja, and civilians that had perished in the fight against the Kyuubi. He had been, unfortunately, drawn back into the position of Hokage until he or the Council of Shinobi Clans nominated a suitable replacement for Minato. He sighed as he knew that it may be a while before that happened after all, Minato was a beloved leader for the short time he was in the office as well as a war hero that many of the younger generation looked up to.

Hiruzen finally arrived at the meeting point at one of the old warehouses at the end of one of the many deserted docks. As he stood there he saw no one, though he felt as though many eyes were upon him. He closed his eyes and sent out a chakra pulse, something that many Sensor ninja knew how to do in one way, shape, or form in order to detect a possible enemy. When he opened them after not sensing anyone, he saw a male figure wearing a very peculiar set of what he identified as armor. He wore a type of body suit that hid any potentially identifiable markings or physical traits. On top of that was a type of chest armor made of an unknown material that was covered in different pouches that contained different types of equipment that he couldn't quite identify. The man also wore gloves and a helmet that glowed with a blue light, inside of which looked like a honeycombed pattern. He saw a knife of an unknown type sheathed on the man's chest next to one of the many pouches. There was also a weapon in a holster on the man's thigh as well as a much longer one that he held in his hand which was pointed towards the ground (7). Enma tensed up but did not act as they weren't actually attacked.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi?" the man asked, his voice distorted slightly.

"I am. And you are?" Hiruzen asked in return in an attempt to gain any information.

"My name in unimportant; what is, however, is that the child is safe and unharmed."

Hiruzen then moved slowly, allowing the cloak that covered both him and Naruto to fall away from the sleeping infant. The man nodded towards an unseen ally and a female figure dressed in similar attire appeared next to him without a sound and hovered her hand over Naruto as a small light shined over the child. She then looked back to the man and nodded. "As you can see, young Naruto is unharmed physically."

"That we can. Abnormalities, lieutenant?" he asked the woman.

"None, sir," she replied with the same voice scrambler, although she seemed unsure.

"Good." He then turned back to Hiruzen. "Please hand Kushina's child over to the lieutenant."

Hiruzen complied with the unknown man and woman and handed Naruto over gently to the woman who cradled him. "If I may ask, who are you?"

"We're no one, just ghosts in the mist," the man replied as an unnatural fog appeared around them. When it rolled away a few seconds later the two figures were gone with Naruto and the eyes that he had felt watching him were gone as well.

That would be the last time Hiruzen would see of Naruto for over a decade.

XxXxXxX

 _Atlantis, two hours later._

It had been a short trip to Atlantis after the submarine that had transported Wraith squad to the shores of Hi no Kuni to extract the last Uzumaki child left inside of Konoha. The Admiralty had been kept in the loop about the affairs of Konoha and the outside world as a whole through the use of deep cover spies in every major civilian capital city and every ninja village that contained a potential threat. Through the use of this spy network, the people of the Fleet were able to keep up to date on all international affairs that occurred after the supposed destruction of Ushizo. After the destruction, it became harder to aging intelligence freely and openly as the ninja of Ushizo traded information to them in return for other goods or services. After hearing about the death of Kushina many who knew her in her childhood, as well as close family, mourned her death.

Captain Welker, the squad leader, had been debriefed shortly after arriving at home. The lieutenant, on the other hand, walked towards the family quarters of Kushina's second cousin and his wife. The man and his wife had been married for several years and had zero luck in conceiving any children of their own. They were around the same age as Kushina, a few years older, and before they had been found after one of the evacuation rafts had gotten caught in a bad current and was carried away. Well the husband that is, he found his future wife and best friend while wandering near Water Country near the end of the Second Shinobi War. The wife had been unknowingly wandering through irradiated lands that were once an area that a power plant once stood. They were all found a year later and brought to Atlantis. She had later found that she wound the able to carry and children to term fearing that they would miscarry at some point. The wife had been understandably depressed. The lieutenant intended to make someone's day.

The lieutenant walked up to the locked door and rang the doorbell. A minute passed before she attempted it again. No one came so she started pressing the doorbell repeatedly until someone finally did come to the door. She was about to press the doorbell again but the door slid open just enough for the lieutenant to see a woman's face, mostly just a part of it as the rest was hidden by both the rest of the door and the door jamb. The lieutenant could see the woman's half lidded orange eye peering at her in more passive annoyance rather than anything else, a few strands of her blue hair sticking out as it looked like she had just gotten up regardless of the fact that it was almost noon.

"Nami? What are you doing here?" she asked in a very subdued, depressed sounding voice.

"I came by to say hi, that and I wanted you to meet someone," Nami replied.

"Who?"

Nami stepped forward and allowed the woman to see the bundle in her arms. "Do you remember Kushina Uzumaki?"

"The so-called 'Mistress of Pranks'?"

"The same."

"And?"

"This little guy is Kushina's son."

The door opened wider, revealing the rest of the woman's face. The only notable difference was that she looked unnaturally pale as if she hadn't gone out into the sun in a few months, outside of the winter months that is, and that she had bags under her eyes from not getting enough sleep. "Where's Kushina then? If you're going around showing me my second nephew, where is my husband's cousin?"

"Konan," Nami started, making sure to choose her words carefully, "Kushina is no longer with us."

"She's dead?" Konan asked solemnly.

"Yes, and this little guy was her son." Konan looked over at the little infant and saw several features that Kushina had when she last saw her years ago before she went off to Konoha for an alliance deal between Ushizo and Konoha. She remembered getting into all sorts of trouble with Kushina by proxy as her cousin would drag her into them. Nami continued, bringing Konan out of her reminiscence, "And I was wondering if you would like to look after little Naruto here."

"Me?" she asked in shock. "Why me?"

Nami sighed, "I know that you want the chance to raise a child as your own and before I brought Naruto to the orphanage I figured I would approach you first." She then took a step forward, "Do you want to hold him?"

Konan nodded and gently took the infant in her arms. As the baby settled in her arms it cuddled into her side, and for whatever reason to Konan, it just felt… right. As Naruto yawned cutely before settling back into a deep sleep she felt a genuine smile tug at the corner of her mouth for the first time in a few years. 'Maybe this could work,' she thought to herself.

Konan was knocked out of her current train of thought by footsteps approaching from behind her. "Sweetheart, who's at the door? You've been over there for-," it was then he noticed his wife's friend and greeted her. "Nami, I'm glad to see you're back from whatever retrieval mission you were assigned to. How'd that go, by the way?" the red-haired man asked, his long bangs covering his eyes suggesting that he had been taking a nap or something similar.

"It went well," Nami replied. "We managed to bring that little guy home," she said as she gestured to the infant in Konan's arms. "But we lost one of our own."

"The team was ambushed?" he asked.

Nami shook her head. "No, everyone made it back in one piece. The baby your wife is holding, his name is Naruto and his mother was Kushina," she revealed.

"Kushina is-?"

"She's passed on. She is survived by her son, her husband perished as well otherwise she wouldn't have had the Hokage trigger the extraction beacon."

The man sighed. "This will sadden her family and friends here. She was loved by many."

"Indeed she was," Nami agreed.

"What will happen to her son?"

"That is something that I was hoping you could help me with. I was on my way to the infirmary to have him checked up on by a pediatrician. Something about his chakra seemed off when I did a medical field inspection."

"Odd? How so?" he inquired.

"It was just… odd," she said in the lack of a better term. "It felt as though he already had a chakra system already in motion, but that should be impossible for an infant. Of he was two or three years old I could believe it with no issues because it's happened before, but an infant developing one so soon after birth?"

"That certainly is odd," he said while rubbing his chin in thought. "May I take a look?"

Nami shrugged. "I'd rather have a medical professional take a look, but a second set of eyes wouldn't hurt any. Be my guest."

The man stepped in front of his wife and if one were to look carefully they would see the man's pupils focus slightly while still keeping a fairly relaxed demeanor. It only took a moment for him to shift from relaxed to surprised and horrified. "Nagato, what's wrong?" Konan asked.

"I know why his chakra felt off." He paused as if for some unseen watcher for dramatic effect, "He has the chakra of one of the chakra beasts sealed inside him."

"But that can't be," Nami stated in shock. "The last known jinchuriki was Kushina and-." She then remembered the report given by one of their roaming spies. "An agent reported that some civilians said that a nine tailed demons fox was spotted terrorizing Konoha. But that should be impossible, right? She had total control over it through the use of a master level sealing array originally developed by Mito Uzumaki herself."

"Unless the seal was broken by an outside variable," Nagato replied. "If that is the case, then the question becomes for what reason? There are some villages that do have jinchuriki as living weapons in reserve in the case of an invasion by a foreign entity, but both Mito and eventually Kushina kept it a secret where only the Hokage, her husband, and a few very close friends even knew."

"Is there any way to know who these friends were?" Konan asked.

"We would have to ask someone higher up that her reports got sent to for review before being archived," Nami replied.

"That is something that we'll have to figure out later," Nagato stated. "But back to the topic at hand."

"Agreed. What we need to be focused on at the moment is taking care of Naruto. Speaking of which-?"

"We will take the boy and raise him as our own," Konan finished.

"Very well. I will go get the paperwork to make it official," Nami said as she left the couple with their new child.

XxXxXxX

 _Sixteen years later (16 AKD). Fleet carrier Pathfinder. 10 miles offshore from the Land of Waves._

A gathering of seven people stood around a table in the center of a briefing room wearing BDUs that were all color coordinated in bland black and held helmets under their arms. The only outlier was the older man dressed in a uniform that was colored in shades of blue digital camouflage and matching hat with the insignia of a captain proudly displayed on his uniform. He held in his hands a datapad, a commonly used device by both military and civilian personnel alike. He tapped a few icons on his screen and the table in the middle of them all came to life displaying a holographic topographic map which shifted into a three-dimensional map with scaled elevations.

"Congratulations, SRS class of 516 on your getting this far into the Special Recon Service program. Many before you have attempted to get as far as you all have and have failed in one way, shape, or form. Many of your fellow classmates and friends who you started with are no longer here, but you are. You should be proud of making it this far as the graduation rate is always under ten percent; however, you do have one final test," he spoke with pride. He then tapped a few more keys and the world map zoomed into what the locals called 'the Elemental Continent'. "We have been tracking the business conglomerate owned by a man known as Gato called Gato Shipping Corporation."

"Sir? Why are we concerning ourselves with this?" a young woman asked.

"Under normal circumstances, we would allow this to play out without interference, however, Gato and his cronies have found something new: old world tech." He tapped a few more buttons and an image of an old aircraft carrier was displayed. "From our intelligence department, we've determined someone in Gato's employ found the wreck of an old carrier. As manifests from that time were destroyed in the servers they were stored on, we can only speculate what they could have found. If we're lucky nothing, if we aren't then there's a chance a Mark VI was on board, which would devastate the entire continent for decades." He tapped more keys and the image disappeared and several red lights appeared on the map, all around coastal cities and towns, one town was starred near the Land of Water. "Gato Shipping Industries started around thirty years ago in a small town in the Land of Water that was then a poor fishing village by Gato with only one small schooner sized ship. After two years of legitimate and clean business tactics earning only slightly above breaking even, he shifted to scrupulous tactics involving corporate espionage, blackmail, and sabotage. It was only after gaining enough capital did he buy the majority stock in a mercenary band, capitalizing on the Third Ninja War to acquire recruits from either side. He then pulled a Zuckerberg and cut out the remaining shareholders, literally; from then on he had his own personal army.

"Using the skills he gained by manipulating enemies and enemy corporations into either bowing to him or selling out to him with a private army at his back he has been slowly taking over coastal towns and ports that could have a major impact on world trade as a whole. His current exports are drugs both natural and synthetic, slavery disguised as indentured servitude, sex slavery, and weapons trading. Dozens of villages and hundreds of people are under his iron fist that is enforced by his private army. We have received word that he is moving to kill a bridge builder who is intending to go against him on his own uncompleted bridge in person. Your objective is to interrogate him as to what they found before killing him. Are we clear?"

"Aye, captain," they replied in unison.

He then turned to the lone Staff Sergeant in the room. "Sergeant, you are in command on this mission."

"Aye, captain," he replied.

"Good. Gear up and move out."

XxXxXxX

 _Land of Waves, unfinished bridge. Hours later._

Kakashi was not having the greatest week of his life. Was it the worst? Not by a long shot. But the worst this year? Definitely. The top two days for that position were the days he found out about his sensei's death after defeating the Kyuubi and the second was the day he was forced to kill Rin, the woman he loved. The events this week definitely didn't take the cake. Said events being his 'cute little genin' getting him a very dangerous escort-turned-bodyguard mission which saw him fighting the Bloody Demon of the Mist, a misnomer for Zabuza Momochi and getting knocked out physically for close to a week after using his Sharingan eye to ensure both his and his genins' survival. He then had to teach them some skills that they should have learned back inside the Academy.

Speaking of the Academy, many things had changed since he had graduated years ago. The first had been a push by both the Hokage, civilian council, and shinobi clans to increase the minimum age that one could graduate from the Academy outside of times of war as there was no need for children who should enjoy what little innocence they have before they actually decide to become shinobi for the village. That age restriction was age fifteen for especially talented and gifted students, however, the restriction was for sixteen otherwise. This allowed the students to figure out what they wanted to do as a specialty. Both sides had their valid arguments, first was that they weren't in a war and better-trained shinobi would have a higher chance of survival if a war would break out rather than half-trained children; that and they would be more competent against surprisingly competent bandits. Some of the obvious downsides would be fewer amounts of shinobi forces during certain points, especially after they Kyuubi incident. Some wanted to bloat the forces to emphasize their power regardless of the fact they would be poorly or barely trained. Luckily reason won out and an amendment was made to remove the restriction if, for whatever reason, they went to war once more.

Right now Kakashi was in quite the pickle. He was cut off from two of his students that were fighting Zabuza's companion who used a particular bloodline to use the combination of wind and water chakra natures to create an ice-based set of techniques. He was worried about the two of them facing the androgynous companion. After all, if he went to go help them then he would be leaving his final student, Sakura alone to defend against Zabuza while trying to keep the bridge builder Tazuna safe. And while she was no pushover and wasn't as pathetic as she had been before becoming his students and was exceptionally skilled in healing, she would be no match for an A ranked shinobi like Zabuza. He was literally caught between a rock and a hard place where he was damned no matter what choice he made.

He could see out of the corner of his eye his struggling students. He had to end this quickly, but how? There was the Chidori, but that was risky because of the time required to power it up to its 'unstoppable' state where only the highest quality chakra metal blades would be able to stop it. Kakashi summoned a horde of hounds that attached themselves via jaw to the Mist ninja and followed up by making the three hand signs and started his technique. He felt the electrical discharge that the jutsu gave off. Zabuza prepared himself as he placed his Executioner's Blade placed in a defensive stance. Kakashi then focused his chakra into his legs and charged at Zabuza at a high speed and extended his arm outward to impale his chest with the lethal jutsu. Kakashi was outright shocked when he hit his target because his hand wasn't inside of Zabuza's chest but in the chest of his companion.

"What?" Kakashi said in confusion.

Kakashi wasn't the only once shocked, Zabuza was too. "Haku?" Zabuza asked in shock.

The androgynous ninja coughed up some blood before turning to Zabuza with a smile. "Thank you for allowing me to be useful to you, Zabuza-sama," Haku said as Kakashi's hand was removed and she fell to the ground with an oddly serene smile. How did Kakashi know Zabuza's student was a girl? It was sort of hard to ignore the breasts on either side of his hand.

Zabuza didn't know what to feel. He had trained his student to be a tool to be used and therefore distanced himself from his student, however, he had grown attached to his student. Their relationship had evolved past teacher and student, perhaps they were becoming friends? After all, they were both products of the Mist's Blood Purge, although he got out before he was forced to commit the atrocities that the current Mizukage wanted him and many others to commit against the civilians. He did, for a time, follow those orders on the shinobi as 'good soldiers followed orders', but for some of his comrades they would take it too far, especially with the children of bloodlines that the Third considered 'dangerous', and would torture the kids that literally did nothing wrong, and in some cases doing more to the girls before they ended their suffering; Zabuza considered himself a 'good person' in this regard, at least he would make their suffering as minimal as he could. Not long after his eyes were opened and he went AWOL before becoming a nukenin for hire. Even in his mercenary work, he would dispatch targets as quickly as possible as that was the least they deserved. Then he found Haku and the brat just stuck to him and eventually he got used to the brat's presence to the point where he trained her (8).

Losing his concentration, the mist that he had created started to clear away revealing a short, portly man approaching surrounded by at least a hundred ronin and other mercenary types who were only a threat to a ninja of any caliber if they were in a large group. "Gato, what is the meaning of this?" Zabuza asked with a slight hollowness.

"You know, I got around to thinking, Mr. Demon of the Mist and do you know what? I realized something. Why should I pay for a ninja who can't even complete a single job? A job that you said that you would do for an exorbitant price and would be able to complete it in short order. So I came up with a solution, a brilliant one might I add. I allow you, ninja, to fight each other to the point where you're both weakened, then I send my private army in, who is already on my payroll and aren't being paid extra, to clean you all up. Brilliant!" he exclaimed in glee at his own grandstanding. "Best of all? I can have the boys rough up those pretty girls there enough to be easily carried away and used as good little sluts who will spend the rest of their lives pleasing me and so many more clients with their 'talents'," he concluded with a demented smile. "Oh, and I haven't forgotten about your pretty daughter, Mr. Bridge Builder."

Kakashi knew he was in trouble. Sakura wasn't a hand to hand specialist, although she could fight she specialized in medic based skills. Both Sasuke and his other student were knocked out but were still breathing; whatever Haku did to them allowed them to stay alive regardless of the sheer amount of needles sticking out of them. He could take a few dozen of Gato's army and if he and Zabuza agreed not to kill each other they might be able to make it through, albeit battered and beaten. Even then that was no guarantee that they would make it out even.

And as if by some sheer twist of fate, and by some silent deity listening in, his 'prayer' was answered in a series of loud, controlled explosions behind him, as if Raijin himself were intervening. He looked at Gato's men and saw they were dropping like flies, their bodies filled with holes. Kakashi turned to see a group of six individuals dressed all in black holding the weapons that were causing the sheer devastation in front of him spitting fire and metal bits that he would be hard pressed to dodge if he weren't in an exhausted state.

XxXxXxX

 _Ten minutes prior_ , _trees on the edge of the bridge's road behind Kakashi and co._

The Sargent looked through his AR HUD watching the feed from the small airborne drone that was currently cycled to the infrared setting. The little tri-rotor drone silently drifted a hundred meters above the battlefield that was an unfinished bridge, the fog hiding it. The drone's eye zoomed in on a watercraft, a yacht-sized vessel, docking at the bottom of the unfinished bridge directly below where the two ninja forces were fighting on. The soldier watched as several heated blobs in the shape of people walked off the boat headed by an extremely short blob.

"Command, this is Reaper Actual. HVT and friends have entered the AO," he reported.

" **Copy Actual, you have permission to engage hostiles,"** the captain replied over the radio.

The entire six-man squad stood up and readied their weapons. "Copy, over and out." The Sergeant then turned to his team. "ROE is as such: take down Gato's guards with extreme prejudice as they are some of the largest piles of scum on the coast and the capture and interrogation of Gato. If he does not comply we take him back to the carrier to be interrogated further, if he does comply immediately we relay the intelligence to the fleet."

"And the ninja?" his second in command asked.

"Retaliatory action only. Try to keep them out of your line of fire." He then checked his own automatic rifle, a modified M8 carbine with a linked tracking sight and an extended magazine and flashed the safety from 'safe' to 'burst' and checked the revolver in his chest holster loaded with magnum 'smart' rounds. "Stack up." They slowly walked towards the ninja and opportunistic Gato so their sound canceling soles would allow his team to get into an optimal position.

As they walked silently they passed by a small arena, if you could call it that, that was riddled with senbon needles all over the place. The Sargent saw two people laying on the ground and according to his HUD, they were still breathing even though they were impaled by numerous needles. The one in a blue shirt had the fan symbol of the Uchiha, so it was safe to say that he was Sasuke Uchiha, the last Uchiha in Konoha; as for the other, something was familiar, yet foreign about her. She had red hair with yellow highlights running through it. Red hair, specifically the shade dubbed 'Uzumaki red', in the Elemental Nations was an uncommon genetic trait that was extremely common in pre-war Ushizo and now the Fleet. And if they were to be asked, they were not to be confused with gingers. There were 'dirty' redheads like the rebel Mei whose hair was more brown than red but it was possible an ancestor of hers was an Uzumaki. But there was something about this 'sunrise' headed girl that he felt… kinship with, somehow. But that was something to ponder later, he had a mission to complete.

The group approached behind the currently quiet ninja who was listening to the ranting Gato that hadn't noticed their approach regardless of the fact that the mist jutsu that Zabuza was famed for using had already dispelled. He took aim, to which his comrades followed, and waited for the opportune moment.

"Oh, and I haven't forgotten about your pretty daughter, Mr. Bridge Builder," Gato ranted on, still oblivious to their presence.

"Pick your targets and fire at will on my mark," the Sergeant ordered as he lined up his first kill. His comrades raised their weapons as well, aiming at the mercenaries. Green dots appeared next to the last names of the members of his squad on his HUD as they silently reported they were ready to engage; all they were waiting on was their superior's command. He placed his finger on the trigger and said over the radio, "Fire."

Immediately all six members opened fire on the mercenaries as one death spewing entity. The LMGs spitting a constant stream of FMJ bullets into Gato's men. Their shoddy armor made of either bronze or low-grade iron turned into Swiss cheese and the ones who chose not to wear armor? Like slicing a hot knife through butter. Or another analogy would be attempting to kill a barrel of fish with a Minigun. Messy. The LMGs fired constantly from their drum magazine filled with three hundred caseless rounds while those with rifles manually used bursts or if their rifle had it an actual burst mode. To the team, their sound canceling helmets automatically filtered out the thunderous gunfire using tech that had been around for years making it sound like muffled thunder from miles away. But for the unfortunate ninja outside it was like being right next to a thunderstorm in terms of sound loudness (10). For the pink-haired girl that was just outside the Sergeant's peripheral vision was covering her ears.

The six slowly walked forward as they each acquired targets. Half of them tried to charge the six, but were swiftly cut down, rounds that passed through their bodies impacting those immediately behind them; the other half tried to run away but realized that they were on the end of an unfinished bridge. The mercenaries watched in horror as their colleagues fell to the newcomers' weapons and there wasn't anything they could do to stop it. Brass fell from the case based munition weapons that clinked and chimed against the metal bridge as they fell. Between the six squad members, almost a thousand rounds of munitions were fired in the short amount of time they had started the engagement. Finally, all that remained was Gato and the gunfire stopped.

"Check the rest of them," the Sergeant ordered. He noticed the downed ally of Zabuza and motioned, "Corpsman, triage." The corpsman nodded and moved towards the downed female, he knelt down and started to tend to the woman, Kakashi, Zabuza, and Sakura watching his movements closely. The Sergeant on the other hand slowly walked towards the cowering Gato whose leg was currently trapped under one of his felled henchmen. The Sergeant walked slowly towards Gato and drew his revolver.

Gato, seeing the smaller version of the weapon that killed his men, he started to blubber in fear, "Please don't kill me! I'll give you anything! Money, power, women!" Seeing as the Sergeant didn't respond he added, "Men?" (9)

The Sergeant squatted down next to the trapped man. "Good, you're willing to negotiate. Tell me, what did you find on the shipwreck?" he asked.

His eyes widened. "What shipwreck?" he tried to lie. After all, they had found much, much that would bring him closer to being the strongest non-ninja in the entire world.

The Sergeant saw through his lie and pointed his revolver at Gato's knee and pulled the trigger. The gunshot was loud for an individual round, even louder than a standard 5.56 round. Gato shrieked out in pain as the round decimated his knee. "I won't tolerate another lie, that was your only chance. Tell me what you found," the Sergeant said as he pressed the revolver into the man's forehead, the still hot barrel searing Gato's skin. "If you lie again you die, if you tell the truth, I'll let you go."

"Alright! Alright, I'll tell you," Gato relented without even taking a moment to think. "We found weapons and other highly technological creations."

"And where are they now?"

"One of my warehouses." The Sergeant cocked his head to the side as if saying, 'go on'. "It's here in my warehouse at the docks."

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" the Sergeant said in a sickly sweet tone as he stood up and withdrew his revolver to his side, still keeping it in his hand. He turned to one of his comrades who just shot a mercenary who was attempting to play dead. "Call it in to Command."

"Yes, sir," she replied. She held her free hand to her helmet's earpiece, "Command, this is Hunter 3."

"So you'll let me go free?" Gato asked with an innocent look, meanwhile, in his mind, he was plotting how he was going to kill each of these six mystery soldiers as well as the Konoha ninja and Zabuza.

"I always honor my promises," the Sergeant said darkly.

Gato smiled before realizing that the man's weapon was now pointed at his head once more. "Wait! What are you doing!?"

"I said you were free to go. I just never said that you would leave here alive. Next time, make sure to get your deals both in writing and make sure they're extremely specific. Maybe you'll remember that in your next life, if you believe in that kind of thing." The Sergeant pulled back the hammer on his revolver before taking aim at Gato's head, the 'smart' round locking onto the center of his forehead.

"Wait! No!" he was only able to cry out before the loud bang was heard once more and the magnum round found its way into his head, killing him instantly. His face was forever etched in fear and the back of his head resembled an exploded cantaloupe or watermelon.

"Well that was something," Kakashi said as he walked up to the Sergeant as he holstered his revolver. "Just who are you?" Kakashi could see the chakra outline that the young man had, and he had to say that it looked eerily familiar to someone he once knew years ago.

Before the Sergeant could brush off his question, the corpsman called out, "Sir!"

The Sergeant ran over to his subordinate, Kakashi wasn't far behind. "Corpsman?" he asked.

"The patient's-."

"Haku," Zabuza interrupted.

"Haku here has lost a lot of blood but is barely holding on and has gone into shock. We can still save her if we get her back to the _Pathfinder_ in the next half hour, I can keep her alive for that long without medical assistance."

"You do realize that requires breaking protocol?" the Sergeant asked.

"It does, sir. But when I took my Hippocratic Oath-."

"I understand, corpsman," the Sergeant interrupted.

"Please," Zabuza said in a weak, defeated tone, "save her. She's all I have left. She is like a daughter to me."

The Sergeant had to think quickly. He knew that Zabuza was considered highly dangerous and a nukenin of the Mist. The Fleet's spies had determined that he aligned himself with the rebels and their leader Mei. If they saved this girl they might curry favor and get under the table deals that would benefit the fleet, like islands that the Land of Water wasn't using for one reason or another. But the risk was also high considering that Zabuza might reveal their existence or might kill the entire crew of the _Pathfinder_ once they healed his 'daughter'. Then if he caved to Zabuza's request, what was to stop the Konoha jonin to request medical assistance for his two students? After thinking for a minute, his mind racing a mile a minute, he made his decision.

He placed his hand on his helmet's earpiece, "Command, this is Hunter Actual. We need immediate medevac."

 **"Say again Actual? You need medevac?"** the operator on the other end questioned.

"Correct, command. One in critical condition and three more in a state non-immediate death."

There was a pause for a minute. **"Please stand by for the captain."**

A moment passed before the operator's voice was replaced by the Captain's, **"Sergeant, why are you requesting a medevac when your team's vitals are all in the green?"**

The Sergeant had to think quickly to justify his request. "The ninja Zabuza Momochi has agreed to disclose information concerning any of Gato's operations he had a part in, in return he wants us to heal his apprentice," the Sergeant replied, making sure his external speakers were on so they could hear his reasoning.

 **"And the other two?"**

He turned off his external speakers for his helmet. "There's a girl here from Konoha that looks eerily like me here. I can't bring her alone without arousing suspicion from her Jonin-sensei so bringing both of them would throw off any ulterior motives."

" **You know that you are breaking protocol, right?"**

"I am aware of that."

There was a pause. **"Very well, but any confrontations are on your head and career. A VTOL will be inbound shortly."**

"Copy that, over and out." He then closed the connection and turned to the group and explained, with minimal explanation of where they were exactly going, what would happen next.

The Sergeant looked at the downed Haku, he could see the eye movements behind her eyelids, as if she was experiencing something. A hallucination, perhaps? His eyes turned to his squad's corpsman who was currently holding a simulation of a heart and major arteries and veins constructed out of the chakra he leeched off of Haku supplemented by his own which was currently keeping the young woman alive. It was creepy looking inside her exposed chest and seeing the chakra heart pump blood. The other Konoha kunoichi, the pink haired one, looked outright sick at the very graphic scene; as was the life of a battlefield doctor. For the next five minutes he had to dodge questions from all conscious shinobi, he had to say that the pink haired girl was the most irritating of them all.

Finally, the promised VTOL arrived through the remaining mist. The VH-77 Mule was the workhorse of the Fleet. The current iteration of this VTOL vehicle was named aptly as it had multiple uses including cargo hauling, troop transportation, civilian transportation, and so on. The vehicle's profile was that of the Osprey but instead of propellers, it has jet engines. This specific variant sacrificed weaponry for passenger space, but it was equipped with one forward chaingun and two side gunner positions. There were, of course, different variants of the Mule including the VH-78 Eagle which traded weapons and cargo space for a stealth ablative coating and sensors and cameras to conduct reconnaissance missions. There was also the VH-79 Ocelot which traded all space, except for pilots, for chainguns, rocket pods, 40mm cannons, and enough munitions to take on an army. Of course, that was just the gunship class vehicles and not fighters, bombers, and so on.

The dropship landed at the end of the bridge and the rear of the craft lowered and three gurneys pushed by six people came out dressed in medic uniforms. The Sergeant's squad cleared out as many of the bodies as possible to allow the medics a clear path to the downed shinobi. The medics did move quickly and the companions of the shinobi didn't put up a fight or fuss when the medics did their due diligence, after all, the lives of their friends and allies were in their hands. The three heavily injured shinobi were moved into the VTOL on gurneys while Zabuza was reluctantly assisted by another medic into the VTOL. Once the future patients were locked into place to ensure their trip would be uneventful, and the Konoha Jonin-sensei and teammate were seated, as they wouldn't let their comrades be taken out of their sight, especially that Jonin-sensei.

Once everyone was confirmed to be secure the Sergeant approached the cockpit and closed the door the separates the cockpit from the passenger area and took the seat behind the pilot. "Having fun?" the female pilot asked in amusement.

"Oh yes, because a potential court martial is so much fun," the Sergeant replied as he removed his x-visored helmet and placed it on the console in front of him.

"Oh? And why would you risk that?" she asked as she finalized the flight sequence.

The Sergeant sighed, his blonde hair that was longer than the regulation specified length falling in front of his eyes. "I don't know."

"You don't know," she deadpanned. She shook her head and whistled, "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now."

"Tell me about it," the Sergeant replied as the VTOL took off from the bridge and made a beeline for the carrier at subsonic speeds.

It was only a few minutes before the _Constellation_ -class supercarrier came into view. The _Constellation_ -class was three times the size of the old _Nimitz_ -class carriers used by the US Navy back before the Collapse. There were multiple reasons for the sheer size of the carriers themselves. One of which being the housing and development of the mechanical, semi-autonomous, exoskeletons dubbed Titans. These Titans came in different varieties for different roles and were armed appropriately for any conflict. The carriers also carried numerous fighters, bombers, and transport craft housed within as well as several types of watercraft. The _Constellation_ -class was considered the hallmark of engineering for seafaring vessels in its day. It is still a versatile vessel but it had nothing on the experimental spacefaring battleships that were being put through the proving grounds before the Collapse.

The pilot maneuvered the VTOL around and said over the radio, "Juliet-325 to _Pathfinder_ tower, we are on approach."

 **"Copy that, Juliet-325,"** the tower operator replied. **"Continue on your predetermined flight path."**

"Copy, tower. Out," she replied before cutting the radio off. The dropship landed on one of the elevators that would lower the dropship into the bowels of the massive vessel. Once the dropship's engines were powering down the elevator lowered. The Sergeant picked up his helmet from the console and his rifle from the stand next to his copilot seat and opened the door that led back into the passenger compartment with his rifle slung over his shoulder and his helmet under his arm.

As he walked through the passenger bay as the dropship's rear boarding ramp lowered he caught the eye of Kakashi. The only thing that ran through his mind as his eyes widened in shock was that he just saw a ghost, a much younger ghost, but a ghost none-the-less.

"Minato-sensei?" he asked quietly, but not quietly enough where his other student took notice.

However, the Minato lookalike ignored him and continued forward as the ramp finished lowering. Kakashi's thoughts were quickly redirected from the young version of his former sensei to his currently pincushioned students being wheeled out of the dropship's compartment followed by Zabuza's companion who was being rushed towards what Kakashi assumed was a hospital quicker than his students were. While he was slightly peeved that Zabuza's companion was being given preferential treatment, he did understand that having a hole in your chest and not having a heart, something you sort of need to keep living, is more important than your students having a copious amount of senbon needles placed at strategic points in their bodies to incapacitate them rather than kill them.

The other members of the six-man squad followed the Minato lookalike and one of the last followers gestured for Kakashi and Sakura to follow them while Zabuza was assisted by another medic out of sight. Kakashi lost sight of where Zabuza, Haku, Sasuke, and his other student were taken as his eyes were drawn to the absolutely massive golem constructs that were pointing massive weapons at them. How did he know they were weapons? Well, it probably had something to do with them looking like the ones that the Minato lookalike's team used when killing off Gato's henchmen but on steroids, and if the size of the projectiles were anything to go by, he did **NOT** want to be hit by them.

The behemoth's front opened up to reveal someone actually manipulating it. "Staff Sergeant, on the line. The Captain will be down shortly to debrief you," the man inside said. "And you," he then said to Kakashi and Sakura, his massive weapon pointed in their general direction, "no funny business. We'll be watching."

Kakashi waved his hands in front of him, presenting a non-threatening air. "Well it would certainly be disrespectful to misbehave in someone else's home, wouldn't it, Sakura?" he said. Not hearing a response Kakashi nudged his student quickly to which she only gave a quick nod. The mech pilot only gave an unconvinced glance before sealing up his mech and going back to his duties.

It was a few minutes later when a door opened and the Sergeant called out, "Officer on deck!" Everyone within earshot immediately stood at attention, particularly those in the Sergeant's squad. Those that were minding their own business on other parts of the deck went about their duties as they were preoccupied with their work. Kakashi had to admit that he was impressed at these soldiers' discipline.

The man that was called an officer was dressed in different attire than the soldiers were but carried a weapon on his belt like many others did. "As you were and buckets off," he ordered. Immediately Kakashi could see the six relaxing slightly before removing their helmets. He was astonished that each of the members of the team were all teens, no older than his students if he were to guess. "SRS class squad designated 'Hunter' for the duration of your mission led by Staff Sergeant Naruto Uzumaki, welcome back home." Kakashi's eyes widened as his mind started to connect the dots, especially since he was privy to details about his sensei's home life that very few were. "Now that we've dispensed pleasantries, it's time to get down to business." The captain then stood in front of Naruto. "Would you care to explain what in God's green earth provoked you to assist these outsiders?" the captain demanded.

"I believed it was the right thing to do, sir," Naruto replied with gusto.

"The right thing? You do realize that the Admiralty can not only have your rank stripped from you and dishonorably discharged, but arrested for treason?"

"I was aware of the potential consequences of my actions when I made my decision, sir."

The captain sighed. "Let's just hope they see it your way."

"If I may be so bold," Kakashi interrupted, "why is this such a great deal?"

The captain turned to Kakashi and replied, "I don't know how you in Konoha do things, and frankly I don't care, but we have a way of doing things that have been done the same way for generations in order to preserve the integrity of the Fleet. We have our reasons for the things we do."

The captain then turned back to Naruto, "Check your weapons in and get cleaned up. Dismissed!" Naruto and his team then left the deck and the captain turned to Kakashi and Sakura, "Come with me. I'm sure you want to see your comrades."

 **To be continued...?**

XxXxXxX

 **And that's all I have for this pilot in particular. I do apologize for the length, after all, it is world building and that does tend to take up a lot of words. Before I make any more notes on what I would hope to accomplish should I make this a real series here I do have some inline notes for you guys.**

 **1\. This was literally what Google Translate gave me when I put "Whirlpool Shadow" for English to Japanese. I do suppose that Ushizokage could also work, but I've always thought that's been more of a fanon/headcanon idea rather than a true Kishi idea.**

 **2\. We've seen this happen in** _ **Naruto**_ **canon where Naruto was poisoned by the Demon Brothers but was fine in the end though he should have definitely had some trace of the poison inside him.**

 **3\. I've always loved the idea of a Fem!Kyuubi who looks like a human some of the time when it wants to be cordial, and I believe my explanation is pretty solid for why, even for headcanon.**

 **4.** _ **Family Guy**_ **reference, I can't remember what episode though.**

 **5\. I guess this is my way of paying homage to the AU fics where both Kushina and Minato survive and continue to build their family.**

 **6\. If I expand this pilot beyond a pilot this plot point will be explored and explained further. The short answer: Danzo and power grabbing.**

 **7\. The best way to explain how this looks is to Google Image search "Titanfall 2 IMC armor" and one of the images should fit if you can't still get an idea what I'm trying to describe.**

 **8\. Or at least this is how I've always seen it as. I could be wrong, though.**

 **9\. Another** _ **Family Guy**_ **reference.**

 **10\. If you want a good visual reference look up on YouTube and watch watch?v=** **M96f_K13joo but start at about 0:43. The clip is from the 2010 movie _RED_ and is pretty badass, even if it is a stupid, fun movie.**

 **And now I'm going to try something new, a hypothetical Q and A down below for a few questions that might arise from this story's release.**

 **Q: Do you ship Konan and Nagato?**  
 **A: Yes, why else would they be together in this fic if they weren't?**

 **Q: Why does the captain seem like an ass?**  
 **A: The Fleet has remained hidden on purpose to keep destructive technologies away from the shinobi who would use them to completely annihilate their enemies and countless innocents just for the sake of doing it. Danzo anyone? Admit it, he would do it in a heartbeat. Think of the Fleet like the Brotherhood of Steel from** _ **Fallout**_ **, they may seem like assholes but they really are looking out for the populace.**

 **Q: Do the soldiers of the Fleet have chakra?**  
 **A: Pre-Ushizo merger? No. Post-Ushizo merger? Yes. With chakra training introduced into the Fleet's training regimen for their soldiers, the members of the Fleet have varied skills and weaponry that the most shinobi nations do not have. This also allows for more varied combat styles ranging from the classic swordsman or assassin for stealth and all out gunfights for full on assaults where stealth isn't needed.**

 **Q: Are the Kyuubi and Naruto on good terms?**  
 **A: They are on decent terms but he had no need for the Kyuubi's chakra during this pilot at all. They are by no means friends at this point but they are amicable.**

 **Q: If Konan and Nagato are alive and well and living a family life with the rest of the Uzumaki remnants, what of Akatsuki?**  
 **A: Another organization shadow led by both Zetsu and Madara are doing shady stuff. As for the name, they have yet to be named by me. However, it will still have all the baddies that we all know and love from Akatsuki, just no Konan or Nagato.**

 **Q: Does Nagato have his Six Paths of Pain?**  
 **A: No, he has no need for them as he has no need to be seen as an omnipresent god to satisfy some kind of complex.**

 **Q: Does the Uchiha Massacre still happen?**  
 **A: Yes. However, I am considering letting Itachi's love interest that we've seen from his pre-massacre story arc surviving.**

 **Q: Who is the 'sunset headed girl'?**  
 **A: As that is something that I mentioned in note #6 that is something that I'll leave a little ambiguous as I still need to flesh that out completely as well as her role in this story.**

 **Q: Why is Naruto ranked a Sergeant?**  
 **A: Because I felt like it. Plus, it wouldn't be the first time that a young person in the** _ **Naruto**_ **universe has been promoted to a higher rank than his peers when extremely young. See Kakashi, Itachi, etc.**

 **That's all I can really think of for hypothetical questions that you guys might ask me in reviews or something. If this plays out well I might do that more often. As for anything else I want to mention or accomplish should I make this into its own thing? I guess Naruto with a different support structure with a superpowered adoptive father and an entire clan behind him while still keeping that down to earth guy that we've known and loved for years. And no filler. Let's be honest, filler sucks except where it actually develops characters and explains enough for us to get the picture.**

 **Until next time!**


	14. A Stargate: SG-1 x Naruto pilot

**Some notes before we begin. As many people know offline (and online if you check my profile) one of my all-time favorite series to ever exist is the** _ **Stargate**_ **franchise. I absolutely loved SG-1, I practically grew up with it, especially when I could watch it on what was then UPN (yeah I'm dating myself a little there, but my local UPN showed it on the weekends). I mean the last year or so I've been getting all 10 seasons from Netflix just to watch again. Atlantis was a great spin-off that could have gone another season personally, but whatever. I own all 5 seasons of that, and I love it so. Best purchases I ever made at Wal-Mart. Universe could have been better for the second season, but given the fact that they got gypped by the guys at NBC-Universal they didn't get that third season they were depending on to finish up the story properly and had to do a shoddy mid-season finale. But I digress.**

 **Now** _ **Naruto**_ **is one of my favorite shounen series that, again, I grew up with. In fact, it was one of my first manga series that I got, thanks to my cousin, great guy him. Thanks to him, and** _ **Naruto**_ **, I got into manga and anime other than Pokémon. I mean I own the first two volumes as well as two later Shippuden manga, though I read the rest online. Seriously, that has 72 volumes and running at close to US$10 a pop (assuming I don't get them for less on Amazon) leaves me with a close to a US$720 deficit, before tax. And shipping. Yeah, my wallet will have none of that. I mean I got the ten volumes of** _ **Black Lagoon**_ **at a steal, but that is thanks to my work giving me money at a raffle and the membership to Barnes and Noble that my parents forgot about, so discount. But again, I digress.**

 **So a thought came to me one day while trying to get my computer to work, "What if I combined** _ **Naruto**_ **and the** _ **Stargate**_ **franchise for a fanfic?" Well, this ladies and gents brought up some interesting questions like "how?" and "where?" Well, I think I have those answered enough in my mind to write up this pilot chapter to test the waters. I have seen others write this crossover and they have done fine, with the exception of one guy who blatantly ripped off another's work completely and didn't even say "hey I borrowed this opening" or anything. Yeah, that's plagiarism pal. So here's how this is going to go… no, wait… I'm going to let Naruto do all that expositional shit, not me. Gives you a bit of an incentive to read, now doesn't it *insert wry grin here*? But I will say there will be divergences from the** _ **Naruto**_ **canon.**

 **BIG OL' DISCLAIMERS: I only own my laptop and my copy of MS Word. I do not own** _ **Stargate**_ **as it belongs to MGM and NBC-Universal, though I'd be honored to take it from them if they'd let me. No? Damn. I also don't own the** _ **Naruto**_ **franchise, that belongs to VIZ Media and Masashi Kishimoto. For full disclaimer see the foreword.**

 **Rating: T for a nongraphic reference to sex. May not escalate beyond that if continued into a series.**

 **Now that's all taken care of, let's get this show on the road!**

Naruto Uzumaki didn't have the greatest of lives. Sure he had a mother and father, as well as two younger sisters, however, no matter what Naruto did he was never seen as a success in his parents' eyes. When Naruto was born it was a joyous occasion in Konoha, all the heads of family clans and their spouses came to see the newborn blond boy. Many of the villagers labeled him as the 'Honorable Son' from the get-go. While his father Minato was the Hokage the child would be treated as a prince, though this would be completely true due to his mother's lineage. Five years would pass before the conception of Naruto's twin sisters, who would be born that October, came to be. The almost six-year-old would witness something that would be ingrained in his memory for years to come: the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, or the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

That day lead to many deaths of shinobi and civilians that were not evacuated to the shelters, some of which were under the Hokage monument, others under the main houses of major clans like the Uchiha and Hyuuga. When the smoke cleared hours later Minato emerged victorious with his wife who had sealed the demon fox into his twin daughters, at the price of Sarutobi Hiruzen's life. This would be the day that changed Naruto's life for the worse. Ten more years would pass. Over these years Naruto was neglected by his parents for his sisters. He asked for help for his homework from the Academy, he received none. He asked for pointers for his taijutsu lessons, again he received none. Any lessons or teaching that happened from his parents went to his twin sisters. He failed the final exam numerous times before he had enough, he quit. The 'Honorable Son' had become 'The Rejected Son'.

One night while Naruto was borderline brooding on what he should do with his life, he was abducted by shinobi from the Land of Lightning in the dead of night. Unable to fight back, due to being tranquilized, the ninja snuck him out of the village before they reached the border. That's when something strange happened, the boy disappeared in a white light and musical tones. At first, the kidnappers thought that Konoha's Yellow Flash had caught up to them, but their fears were alleviated as none of them lay dead, however, the boy was gone. Days later a search team made of Aburame and Inuzaka trackers made their way to the site that Naruto had disappeared at only to find the same kidnappers still looking for the child. The ones that they didn't kill were interrogated, telling what they saw: a white light and musical tones took the child away. The night Naruto disappeared would be the last time for close to another decade before he would be seen again by the ninja of Konoha or his family.

When Naruto awoke he was restrained, but not in the normal sense. He was floating while green orbs orbited him. When he was able to move his head he saw a little gray man with big black eyes, a wiry body, and an oversized head.

"Interesting, all other subjects were asleep when they arrived," the being said.

"Who. Are. You?" Naruto managed to growl out through his mostly forced shut jaw.

"I am Loki of the Asgard," it replied looking at a holographic screen.

"What do you want with me?" he strained.

"You are part of an experiment. Please hold still so my scans can finish so I may return you," Loki replied distantly.

"Why?"

Loki paused for a moment, "Your species may have the answers for which I seek: the salvation of my race."

Naruto then passed out. Whether it was from the Asgard named Loki putting him back under or from the exhaustion from being kidnapped, he did not know. Days would pass until he would be discovered by the Asgard named Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet. When Naruto awoke he was surprised, to say the least, the sixteen-year-old boy had aged a year physically. Thor had said it had to do with the meddling that Loki had done with his genetic code when scanning him. The conversation between the two got interesting when Thor had said he could return Naruto home.

"No," Naruto said firmly.

"Why not, young one?" Thor asked. "Surely your progenitors worry about your disappearance."

"They would if they cared." Naruto looked down sullenly. When he looked up he saw the Asgardian looking at him in interest, as if to continue. "You see they favor my twin sisters over me. They ignore me really." He then went on to describe his home life, while it wasn't the worst thing that Thor had heard about, even on goa'uld worlds, it was still saddening to the being that outwardly showed no emotions.

"What if I told you there was an alternative?" Thor asked.

"I would most likely take it."

"I know of humans of your homeworld that know of my race, as well as other races among the galaxy. If I were to take you to them, they could grant you sanctuary."

"There's a catch, isn't there?"

"You definitely have learned well from your ninja society. There is one. They may ask for genetic or blood samples to study as they are in the field of protecting Earth from the goa'uld. Any research material that you give them could aid them in the defense of the planet and its people. While my species does protect this world, we may not be doing so for much longer as there are so few of us than there used to be millennia ago."

"You are dying off," Naruto said with realization.

"Indeed. We used to procreate as your species and many other sentient species do, but now we use cloned bodies that house our consciousness. Eventually, these bodies will break down if a solution is not found first," Thor trailed off in thought.

Naruto thought long and hard. What was literally spitting in a cup and maybe giving a few bags of blood if it meant defense of the world against an alien onslaught. Naruto saw recordings of what the goa'uld did to worlds, wiping out civilizations out from orbit; even the shinobi of his and other countries cannot withstand that. The Elemental Countries were isolated from the Outer Countries behind a barrier erected by the Sage of the Six Paths himself. Only those with chakra could pass through either side of the barrier, but with the right tools, one would be able to see the Elemental Countries right from orbit without their knowing. While Naruto despised his parents, he did not hate his sisters. One does not blame one for the sins of the father, and mother in this instance. He would not be able to live with the deaths of his sisters on his conscience.

"I'll do it," Naruto replied.

"Very well," Thor replied. "Please stand still as I transport us to the SGC."

Again white appeared around Naruto as musical tones played before the scenery changed from the silver metal of Thor's ship to what looked like a bunker made of concrete, and a bunch of people who looked to be inside of a meeting. There was a bald man in a white shirt with stars on his shoulders at the head of the table. On the sides were a large dark skinned man with what looked like a gold engraving on his forehead, a blonde woman with short hair and eyes that lead to an inquisitive mind, a man who was the youngest in the group who had glasses, and finally an older man with graying hair and what looked like silver birds on his shoulders.

"Thor, buddy. Long time no see. So how are things? And, ah, who's the kid?" the gray-haired man asked.

"Greetings General Hammond, Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c," Thor replied. "To answer your question, O'Neill, this is Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha," Thor gestured to the young adult.

"Of the 'Leaf'?" Daniel asked translating the shorthand of Naruto's home city into English with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed."

"Ok. I'll bite," O'Neill stood up. "Why'd you bring this kid to us? I mean you couldn't just take him back to where he's from, right?"

"He has requested asylum from the tau'ri instead of returning to his own people, in return he would provide genetic and blood samples for you to experiment on." Thor then proceeded to explain the origins of Naruto's birth. Daniel was shocked, to say the least, that a complete secret series of countries lay inside of a dimensional rift that made the Warring States Period of Japan's history look like a bad lover's spat. The constant wars that extinguished hundreds of thousands of lives each time a 'Shinobi World War' was enacted. To say everyone at the table was disgusted at the table was an understatement. They were even more abhorred about children as young as five years old joining the military to kill others in either full-on wars to hiring themselves out to the highest bidder when Naruto explained Academy lessons, especially what kunoichi were supposed to learn in the 'Arts of Seduction' lessons. Naruto then explained his home life where he summarized it as him returning would leave him to become some sort of husband to be wedded off in some sort of loveless political marriage or to become breeding stock if one of the freakier members of the 'Civilian Council' had their way.

Jack whistled in amazement at the end of Naruto's little lecture, "Geez kid, and here I thought one of my old war buddies had a rough childhood. I mean you weren't abused, but being neglected isn't much better."

"This 'chakra' that you spoke of, the abilities sounded a little like what the System Lord Nerti did with her experiments on making a more advanced human host," Daniel commented. "Though last time I checked Cassandra wasn't breathing fire or moving faster than the eye could see."

"Legend says that it was someone called the Sage of the Six Paths that first brought the teachings of 'ninshu' to my ancestors. Some records state that he wanted humanity to become closer together, but power hungry people used the power of chakra for war instead," Naruto said sadly.

"Are there any artistic representations of this Sage?"

"No, though legend says that he rebelled against his mother, the Demon Rabbit Goddess. It was said that she had abilities that could warp reality."

"Did he too have these abilities?"

"He and his brother to a lesser extent, why?"

"I agree. Where are you going with this Dr. Jackson?" Hammond asked.

"General, if I am correct then these three historical people could well be Ancients, possibly before they Ascended. The Sage it seems, taught about peace and harmony, something that the Ancients upheld. We all saw what happened when Jack was exposed to the Ancient Repository and other humans that had their genetic code tampered with, it isn't that far of a stretch."

"What would you recommend then?"

"We take whatever samples he lets us, keep them marked as 'Anonymous Donor' to keep him hidden from the NID, The Trust, and other agencies that would want to use him as a weapon against not only the Goau'ld but also those that are considered our allies," Daniel suggested. "We find him a host family, maybe one that's already involved with the Program preferably. Forge records that he's a foreign exchange student for school records and an orphan. Whatever he does after that is up to him."

The aging general looked into Naruto's eyes before closing his, contemplating his options. "Mr. Uzumaki. If we were to give you asylum, a new name, and identity, all for a few samples of your DNA and maybe a demonstration of your skills and all that you know of your home continent, would you do it?" Hammond asked.

Naruto also ran over his options, the little that he had that was. "If it will protect my sisters and the entire world at large, then yes, I will," Naruto replied.

"I will have the appropriate forms brought up in a few hours. But unofficially," the general stood up and extended his arm. "Welcome to the United States of America and Stargate Command."

Naruto took his hand and shook it firmly, "Thank you."

XxXxXxX

 **Seven years later, Konoha, Evening**

It was an average day in Konohagakure no Sato, or the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, flaming balls of death weren't falling from the sky ready to annihilate those standing below them, and the echoing scream of 'What!?' from a trio of redheads was heard throughout the village.

"What do you mean you THINK you've found him?" Kushina asked the old spymaster. "You've told us over the years your agents thought they've seen him but all that's done is send us on wild goose chases."

"This time I'm certain," Jiraiya stated. "One of my spies in the Outer Nations reported seeing a blonde, spiky-haired young man with similar physical traits seen on both yours and Minato's sides."

"Where is our onii-chan?" the blonde twin named Natsumi asked. She was the container of the yin half of the Kyuubi. Her personality was bubbly, friendly, and sweet outside of fighting. Natsumi uses indirect approaches when she fights through poison and medicine. Her misnomer is known as the "Poison Princess of Konoha".

"Yes, where is our dear brother?" the crimson haired twin named Kasumi asked flatly. She was the container of the yang half of the Kyuubi. Her personality was cold and calculating, she has a short fuse on her anger, and is generally says what's on her mind especially when it's insulting or demeaning both on and off the battlefield. Her anger inside of battle has earned her the misnomer of "The Second Coming of the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero", but behind her back she's called the "Mini-Tomato".

"According to my informant he is in the city of Colorado Springs in the state of Colorado in the country of the United States of America," Jiraiya replied.

"Well, what is he doing there of all places? Also, where is this place?" Kushina asked.

Jiraiya sighed. "According to the information that my informant's been feeding me over the years, the United States is one of the superpowers of the world along with Great Britain, Russia, and China. The United States is divided into fifty different plots of land all ruled by a governor called states, the country in a whole is ruled by a president elected by the people and he controls the entire country's military."

"But what is he DOING there?" Minato asked, annoyed at his former teacher's lecture.

"My informant looked in their civilian databases and the names 'Uzumaki Naruto' or 'Namikaze Naruto' aren't in the records."

"Then how do we know that is, in fact, our Naruto and not a person that either looks like him or some sort of doppelganger?" Kushina asked.

"I have a suggestion," said Jiraiya. Minato waved him on. "I propose we sent a scouting team to this sighting."

"Who would you suggest that we send on this borderline suicide mission? We would entering another country's sovereign soil. If we were to be found out we don't know what would happen. Jiraiya, why is this nation considered a superpower?" Minato asked.

"Because of the weaponry and weapon technology that they possess. They and several other countries possess a weapon that can easily wipe an entire city such as ours off the map completely and leave the land uninhabitable for well over forty years for miles around, assuming the land survives at all."

"Then I suggest we exercise extreme caution with whoever send." Minato got a nod of agreement from Jiraiya.

"I would recommend sending one of your daughters if this is, in fact, Naruto he will react less violently with one of them as he never had any ill intentions towards them. I will leave you to decide on that. As for who else, obviously you can't leave as you are the Hokage and with the escalation of tensions in the Mist you will be needed here as a certain 'Mummy' would like to attempt to take control while you are gone. It would be a bad idea to send Kushina as-."

"Why shouldn't I go? He's my child," Kushina asked angrily.

"Do you know why he left the house before being nabbed?" asked Jiraiya. He got two 'no' shaking heads. "He was angry at pretty much being ignored for the twins. While I do not blame you two entirely as the twins did need to learn how to control the Kyuubi's power, you have to see this from his perspective too. You two were the source of his anger and frustrations. I heard what the Council was attempting to have done with him, and I don't entire blame him from running away: the CRA. If he were to see you two he might think you're trying to bring him back to be a 'stud.'"

"We would never-!"

"I know you wouldn't. However, these are just my suggestions, nothing more. As for the rest, I would suggest someone from the Aburame or Inuzaka clans for their tracking capabilities or even a Hyuuga. If you can find any girls that were sweet on him that would be an even bigger bonus."

"I will take your suggestions into consideration. You are all dismissed." As everyone left the office of the Hokage, Minato rubbed his temples, this was going to be a long night.

XxXxXxX

 **Two weeks later in Colorado Springs, early morning**

"Mmmm, Nathan," a woman cooed. "Please tell me you don't have to get up yet," she said sweetly as she tried to press her nude, lithe body against her lover's.

"Sorry sweetheart, but if I don't show up then I'll be declared AWOL, and we both don't want that," Nathan replied as he tried to get up, but was stopped as the woman gripped his arm and pressed Nathan's arm between her breasts.

"But I won't get to see you for three whole days," she pouted.

"What are you talking about? You'll be able to see me during meal times when I'm on base."

"Yes, but we won't get to do anything other than seeing each other."

Nathan leaned over and kissed her passionately, "I know, Tiff. But that's just the way our life is. Now come on, we need to get up and going to report to the SGC, me to the Colonel and you to Dr. Li."

One hour, and one extended steamy shower later, the couple made the drive to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Nathan arrived in the office of Colonel Mitchell.

"Welcome back Sargent. Enjoy your weekend?" Mitchell asked while handing over a file folder.

"If by the weekend you mean three generic days off filled with binging on Netflix with my other half, then yes," Nathan replied taking the folder. "What's the mission?"

"You and your squad will be checking out P3X-2105 for possible signs of Ancient tech. One of Teal'c's off world informants said there may be a treasure trove of Ancient stuff there."

"Sounds like fun." He then closed the folder and placed it on the table, "When do we leave?"

"1400 hours today."

XxXxXxX

 **Outside Cheyenne Mountain Complex, 1330 hours.**

To say it was a rough two weeks for the shinobi team assigned to contact and retrieve Naruto was an understatement. It took a week of straight sailing to the coast of California, and that was by using water jutsu to propel the ship that they used to a relatively fast speed that a motor or sail boat would never achieve. They had to have several shinobi going around in shifts to keep the boat on course and at speed to get them to shore before their supplies ran out. Then, due to a lack of foresight, they didn't pack enough money to get them to Colorado Springs, that, and none of them spoke a shred of English. So they had to walk. It wouldn't have been that bad if it weren't for the fact that they had to walk across a desert followed by an entire mountain range. The altitude sickness was the worst of it, causing them to slow down to acclimate to the altitude. Finally, they made it to the small city that was Colorado Springs, the winter covered town.

They saw a person that looked like Naruto and followed him to what a tunnel in a mountain to which he went inside a tunnel wearing a set of olive drab clothing that when they looked at the others in the general area, was a uniform. He walked inside and the shinobi team followed him from the shadows. It became apparent to them, as the snuck lower and lower into this facility that it became more and more difficult to follow him closely. Therefore, the decision was made to tag him with a chakra locator tag. He wandered around until he went to an armory of sorts before meeting up with three other people in a large room whose roof was hundreds of feet above them as well as a ring with symbols on an inner ring inside of the ring.

Natsumi peeked out to get a clear look at the person she thought was her brother and, for a moment, he looked right at the corner they were hiding in inside of a genjutsu. They then heard a booming voice over a speaker talking about starting something.

The ring on the inner portion began spinning and stopped on one of the symbols and the same voice said, "Chevron one encoded," as one of the orange triangles lit up.

Each of these 'chevrons' lit up in a sequence, that the four ninjas could tell, but for what exactly? Finally, the man on the loudspeaker said, "Chevron seven, encoded. Locked."

Then the most confusing, amazing, and somewhat beautiful thing happened. The inside of the ring, which was once hollow and empty, was filled with what looked like water that gushed outward before falling back in on itself forming a pool of standing water that seemed to defy all logic and reasoning. Then a second voice came over the speaker, "SG-25, you are clear for embarkation. Good luck and godspeed."

The four-person squad moved towards the shimmering 'pool' of 'water' and one by one they walked right into it and they didn't reappear on the other side, as the sensor of the group could tell, and signed. The shinobi squad had to think and move quickly, Naruto was standing at the edge and was about to walk through when he stopped for a moment and looked around the room before shrugging it off and walked through. The shinobi then made their decision and sprinted at top speed towards the pool of water with chakra enhanced running. By the time the alarms went off in the control room alerting the base of an intruder the four-person shinobi team was already through the Stargate.

What the Namikaze twins, the Hyuuga girl, and the Nara heir saw would remain for them in their memories for years to come. This water didn't act like water it as it looked like there was another sun on the other side, however, they went through it though as it were water and not something else. A swirling vortex appeared colored in blues, whites, and blacks that eventually made way for a white flash. Points of light then lined up in a line from left to right as they sped past them. Two blue panes appeared at the top and bottom of their vision as the lights continued to speed past them, they twisted and turned as a light or two came close enough to 'blind' them. Finally, they headed straight for one of the lights and passed into it.

On the other side Nathan Yamada, son of deceased parents of the Yamada family and formerly known as Naruto Namikaze, came through the Stargate like normal. He had gone through it enough time to learn a few things about the strange, alien device. First: never hold your breath even though your mind tells you to as you go across the Event Horizon. Second: to limit vertigo, outside of a combat situation where a tactical retreat is needed, closing your eyes as you enter helps reduce the visual overload some experience while traveling through the wormhole, regardless of the demolecularization. Third: Always keep walking once you get through at least three steps, you don't want yourself half inside a Stargate when it's about to deactivate unless you want to die for some reason.

This is what kept Naruto alive through his missions that he was given. He walked down the stairs that the Stargate sat raised upon and joined his squad when he heard several people fall over in the tell-tale sign of an 'oof' as they fell on top of each other. He and his squad turned around and pointed their weapons at these new persons, startling their informant. These four people managed to clear the Stargate before it closed on any part of them as they were sort of thrown from the gate. Naruto looked down at these newcomers, weapon in hand, and froze as he recognized several of these people.

One of his subordinates noticed and asked, "You ok, Sarge?" Noticing his eyes pointed towards two of the people, girls at that, he then asked, "You know them or something?"

"You could say that," Naruto replied, "those two are my sisters."

 **To be continued...?**

XxXxXxX

 **Alright, that's all I have for this pilot. Why did I cut it off so abruptly? Well, I've been keeping this one on my hard drive for over a year, if not longer (but I can't really see the original metadata as it's saved on my OneDrive originally and not my HDD where it was originally created). Plus, I thought I would mix it up a little. If you have been reading all of my pilots that I've posted here in my repository you might recognize the similarities between this one and the one I dubbed "Prodigal" a while back, it came from the same mindset as I created the files for both stories around the same time.**

 **What's keeping me from doing this as a full-on saga-style story? Time, having to create new storylines and an alternate universe for both** _ **Stargate**_ **and** _ **Naruto**_ **as Naruto wasn't involved with Konoha after he left at all and so far I don't know how Naruto's DNA has affected the SGC and the Tau'ri allies as a whole as that would be something that I would have to create, and not wanting to do too many stories as series as possible so that I can focus on creating quality content for all of it.**

 **Will I come back to this? I don't know honestly. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I'll let you guys decide as I don't want to make this one whole cliché story like I've seen time and time again; I want to make this my own like I have done with many of my stories I've written for this site even though they may share similar elements with others. But that's just my thoughts on it.**

 **Until next time!**


	15. A KOTOR x GoT oneshot

**Alright, so I have another idea, however, this time it is a one-shot. What is it? Well, a while back I saw a one-shot of an OC Sith Lord going to Westeros, for whatever reason, and fight on the behalf of Tyrion Lannister, again for whatever reason ("The Mountain and the Saber" id:** 10485603 **by SaberWolfe), and I had a thought: "hey, I want to do something like that!" But I don't want this to be a ripoff or downright copy of his work so I asked myself: "who else had a trial in Westeros and got royally fucked over?" A few hours later, as I was writing something else at the time, it hit me: Ned Stark. I mean the guy lies for the first time in his life in order to save his family, even though it would mean he would be sent to the Wall as a result and probably never see any of them again, and gets his head lobbed off by a Cercei controlled Joffrey's ruling. Then the second question became of who would I personally use? The only OC I currently have for** _ **Star Wars**_ **is my Bounty Hunter in** _ **The Old Republic**_ **. Then it hit me, but you'll see who that is when you actually read it below. So without further ado, I have a disclaimer.**

 **Rating: T+ as there isn't enough in this to be considered "M".**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word.** _ **Game of Thrones**_ **belongs to GRR Martin and** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney and their affiliates.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

 **{Music suggestion}**

XxXxXxX

 _The Red Keep, Black Cells, King's Landing, Westeros. Evening._

Eddard Stark knew he was fucked, there was no other way to say it. He had to open his big mouth and threaten Cersei Lannister in revealing her son Joffrey's lineage, that being of Cersei and Jamie. 'Is there no honor in Westeros anymore?' he asked himself.

Everyone in the North knew Eddard as a very honorable man, someone who you wanted on your side as he would never betray you. He had his honor and his honor dictated that he stand by the side of his friends and allies, even if things were grim. This was something that was impressed on him at a young age by his father, his family, and his trainers. Ned remembered his father once saying, "If we don't have honor, then what else do we have?"

He was in the Black Cells, that was certain and there was no way to break out, and if he even contemplated it his daughters would be killed. He had no idea if Cersei even had Arya, but Sansa was in the grasp of the Lannisters as well as being wrapped around that little shit Joffrey's finger. Ned knew there was something wrong with that child even before he discovered that he was the product of incest. A sane child doesn't go around torturing small animals as well as people. Joffrey was one of Robert's greatest failures, Robert should have been a better father, maybe then Cersei wouldn't be poisoning her son's thoughts. But that was in the past now and there was no way to change that.

Ned was removed from his thoughts back to reality and the fact that the Black Cells were depressing thanks to hearing the heavy iron gate that separated the Black Cells from the rest of the Red Keep open. The person walking was wearing boots of some kind as they had a kind of echo to them and not a shuffling that women who wore slippers had. Therefore he assumed that the person was a man. The man then stopped in front of the heavy wooden door of his cell and it opened to reveal one of the Gold Cloak guards and another man dressed in what looked like black robes and a mask. He gave off an aura of power that seemed ethereal. He carried some kind of bladeless sword-like objects on his belt but no other visible weapons.

"Leave us," he ordered the guard.

The guard looked absolutely shocked and responded in a very confused, "My good ser, this man is very dangerous and-."

"If he were as dangerous as you say he is, then he would have killed both of us before we could do anything," the masked man interrupted, "and I can take care of myself. Leave us," he added more forcefully. The guard finally took the hint and left the two alone in the cell, closing the door behind the masked man as he entered. Ned heard the guard walk away and the masked man walked around him, examining him as if he were some whore on display for purchase at one of Littlefinger's whore houses. Once it sounded like the guard was gone for good the masked man spoke up. "Now that the imbicile is gone we can talk in peace."

"What do you want?" Ned asked.

"I came to offer you some advice, should you wish to hear it."

"Go ahead, it's not like I'm going anywhere."

"You should ask for a trial by combat."

"And why would I do that? If I even did ask for that they'd use the Mountain as their champion."

The man then squatted and made himself eye level with Ned. "And that's where I come in. I would be willing to be your champion, for a price that is."

"If you're looking for money, I have none. It was all taken by the Lannisters and any coin I do have is in Winterfell."

"It's not money I am after."

"Then what do you want? Do you wish to take one of my daughters as one of your own? Because if you do-."

The masked man then interrupted him once more. "I have no wish for you either of your daughters, I am a happily married man and I am sure my wife would kill me if I did attempt to move on another woman (1)," he chuckled in amusement. He then regained his serious composure once more. "There is a jewel in the pommel of your blade 'Ice', I want it."

Ned's eyes opened in shock. He recalled the same jewel that the masked man was referring to. It was an oddly shaped red jewel around the size of the first segment of his thumb that was never cut and Ned never really knew why his ancestor who forged Ice from Valyrian steel never had the jewel cut. Throughout every holder of Ice, they never did anything with the blade other than clean it when the blade had been stained with blood. "You would risk your death and the lives of my family for such a small jewel?"

The masked man poked a finger into Ned's chest. "That 'small jewel' as you call it is more valuable than you know." He then stood up and took a few steps away, his back turned to Ned. "That jewel contains vital information, that's all you need to know at this point. I am a skilled fighter and I have more than just a few tricks up my sleeve, will you take me as your champion and take the trial by combat? If you do the chances of you seeing your family again are exceptionally high, if you do not the chances of your death are also that high. Regardless of what happens I still win, though you not taking me as a champion will make things more lengthy for me rather than difficult. It's your choice."

The masked man was certainly persuasive. He made sense. If he won this trial by combat then he would be able to leave with his family. And if he lost then his life would be forfeit as well as his family's, primarily those still in the city. "You can hold yourself in individual combat?"

"On many occasions with many foes that you could consider... godlike at times."

'Godlike?' Ned questioned. There were many that considered themselves gods at times, but to fight those that were so powerful that the could be considered gods? "May I have time to consider this?"

The masked man shook his head, "You will have very little time. After I leave the one dubbed Littlefinger will come down and convince you to lie to the court, telling them that you did in fact poison King Robert and intended to usurp the throne and to request the Wall. The witch whispering in the ear of the Heir Apparent will tell him to kill you instead. You make this choice now or die without ever seeing your family again. My companion is currently stalling him, but it won't last for much longer."

Ned quickly considered his options and made up his mind. "Very well, I will request a trial by combat and I will choose you as my champion, and in payment, you will receive the jewel in the pommel of Ice. What is your name so that I can tell them my champion?"

"Just call me Revan."

XxXxXxX

 _Combat arena, Red Keep. 12 hours later._

All around the combat arena in which trials by combat were held stood five individuals. Three were on the side of the accused and two on the side of the prosecution. The trial would be simple, the last one standing would be considered the winner and the trial result for the murder of King Robert Baratheon by Eddard Stark would be either innocent or guilty. Eddard had chosen a mysterious man by the name of Revan, whose female companion who stood near clad in armor never seen before, who stood beside him clad in what looked like fine robe-like clothing and a mask. On the side of the prosecution were a Lannister squire and the Mountain himself.

Around the lowered arena on raised platform seating sat many nobles in the city, primarily soon to be King Joffrey Baratheon and his soon to be ex-fiance Sansa Stark as well as many other Lannister bannermen and countless onlookers from those who could pay the coin, that is. Cersei looked on to the champion of Eddard and was not impressed. She knew that the Mountain would kill this 'Revan' brutally and would then allow him to kill Eddard right in front of his squeamish 'whore' daughter. Well, she considered Sansa a whore though she was pretty sure Sansa was a virgin, but it didn't matter. She was convinced to let Eddard have his trial by combat as it would show the masses as well as the Realm the power of the Lannisters as well as their future king. It didn't take much convincing from Littlefinger as Cersei knew that Petyr had pined over Catelyn Stark for years before Eddard got his hand on her. She would get to crush the Starks and Petyr would bring extra coin into the treasury from this spectacle as well as getting to watch his competition for Catelyn's hand be destroyed. Oh, how she would enjoy watching the Stark family fall.

Meanwhile, in the arena itself, Revan stood next to Ned Stark, who still was in manacles, as well as his female companion. "Brie, might I borrow your bes'kad (2)?" he asked his companion.

"Afraid that your saber might not work, Jedi?" she jabbed playfully.

Revan gave her a look of seriousness and replied, "I wish to get a confession out of that beast of a man and my saber would cut right through him."

"A confession? For what?" Ned asked.

Revan turned to him and replied, "Do you know of Oberyn Martell?"

"The Dornish prince? My late sister spoke of him quite fondly and favorably."

"I approached him before I talked to you. He heard of your plight and asked that if you were to make me your champion during your trial I would need to get a confession out of the Mountain for the raping and murder of his sister and niece."

Ned knew of this quite well. The Dornish were quite cold with the Lannisters and Baratheons because of the very brutal rape and murder of the Dornish princess and her daughter by the Mountain. Everyone knew of this event, although it was spoken in whispers lest the Mountain hear you and kill you. Prince Oberyn had been sitting on a large sum of money that he would 'gift' to the killer of the Mountain, should he hear of it of course. "And what would get you get out of this deal with him?"

"Information. But you need not worry yourself about that."

"Fighters, take your places!" a voice announced from the stands. Brie handed over her bes'kad to Revan by the hilt and he walked out towards the outer ring of the arena that combatants would start at. "This trial by combat for the life of Eddard Stark, current Lord of Winterhold, is being represented by his champion Revan and the side of the prosecution is represented by the Lannister bannerman Gregor Clegane." There was obvious bias as when Revan's name was met with jeers by many of the audience members but when Gregor's name was called it was met with cheers. "The fighters will now take their places and wait for the signal to begin." Gregor growled as if some kind of animal but Revan remained silent, examining how to completely annihilate his opponent while still getting a confession out of him. The fighters waited patiently for the officiant to start the fight, in this case, that being Joffrey. The onlookers looked on with anticipation at the person that the Mountain was going to end.

Finally, after what felt like forever to the crowd, the soon-to-be King shouted, "Begin!"

Immediately Gregor charged forward and attempted to cleave Revan in half, however, to Gregor's amazement and frustration Revan dodged his strike without even trying with a fluidity that only dancers would have. Gregor tried to swing his oversized blade at Revan once more, but instead of dodging it entirely he swatted the large blade aside with his much smaller in comparison sword with only one hand. This continued to go on for ten long minutes before Gregor bellowed, "Stop dodging me!"

"As you wish," Revan ominously replied.

Revan then surprised all but one person by charging faster than anyone could comprehend as a human just didn't move that fast normally, even with intense training. He then flicked the hidden to the public switch and activated the bes'kad's vibroblade function. He then proceeded to whirl around the behemoth man and slice into his calf and Achilles tendon with extreme ease, even as the man was covered in steel plate armor. When Revan's blade left the man's leg, it left a thin line of molten metal in its wake. Gregor stumbled to the ground on one knee while Revan circled around him like some kind of predator playing with its prey.

"I heard something interesting from someone acquainted with you. He told me that you raped and murdered his sister and niece, is that true?" Revan asked. The Mountain only growled in anger to cover any sign of weakness. "You growl like a beast, are you incapable of speech?" Revan taunted. Gregor growled once more and stood up, a notable limp on his right leg where Revan cut into his leg. "So the beast still has some fight in him."

Gregor charged at Revan once more, ignoring the pain in his leg. Revan dodged once more and made several more very shallow cuts before taking a stance once more with his blade by his side instead of raised. "Stay still you bug!" Gregor shouted in frustration.

"As you wish," Revan simply replied. He switched off the vibroblade function and readied himself for brute force. He reached out to the Force and increased his body's strength to handle the next blow he would willingly take. Gregor swung his blade at his opponent and to his, and the audience's, amazement Revan managed to not only take the blow and not move, but he also did it one handed.

Ned said what everyone was thinking in an almost hushed whisper, "Impossible."

Brie only chuckled and replied, "Don't let Revan hear you say that; he'll just tell you that nothing is impossible with the Force or some kind of spiritual mumbo-jumbo."

Gregor grunted and growled as he tried to force this smaller man, in comparison, into submission. "You just love to attack like some trained attack dog, don't you? But what'll happen when the shoe is on the other foot?" Revan taunted. Gregor released one of his hands and attempted to donkey punch Revan. However, Revan grabbed his fist with his smaller hand and stopped it dead in its tracks, those that weren't already dumbfounded by Revan's strength already were floored at the fact that he stopped the Mountain once more, but that he was now twisting the Mountain's fist, forcing him to his knees. Then with one more one handed blow Revan disarmed the Mountain, his sword skidding far enough away that Gregor could not reach it. "The hunter is now the prey." Revan then walked around the downed Mountain while still holding the Mountain's fist in an extremely painful fashion where he was already creating micro-fractures in his fingers with little effort. Revan then waved his free hand in front of Gregor and borderline chanted, "You raped and murdered Elia Martell and her daughter, didn't you?"

Gregor's mind and eyes glazed over for a moment and parroted, "I did rape and murder Elia Martell and her daughter in her own bedroom."

"That's all I needed to hear," Revan simply replied. He then released Gregor's arm and kicked him away. Revan then tossed the bes'kad to Brie who caught it without missing a beat.

"What is he doing?" Ned asked in both worry and curiosity.

"Revan knows what he's doing," Brie replied knowingly.

Revan took a long enough walk away from Gregor so that everyone could see what was going to happen next, once he moved that was. Meanwhile, up in the stands, Joffrey was scoffing at the smaller man's very strange, and borderline suicidal, move. Sansa, as well as the hidden Arya, could see that something else was going on like Revan was planning something. Revan then detached one of the silver tubes from his belt and held it in his hand. Joffrey then scoffed while laughing like a loon, "He's got a bladeless sword!? What's he going to do, pummel the Mountain to death!?" Many of the soon-to-be king's entourage laughed with him for fear of being killed as they did know he had a cruel streak.

Revan ignored him and pushed the stud on his hilt and activated his lightsaber in an echoing, recognizable sound of a snap-hiss revealing the purple plasma blade. Although to these lesser evolved beings it would look like light anyway. The crowd instantly shut up as Revan now wielded a new weapon never seen before, and they could hear the humming that it gave off. Gregor crawled to his oversized bastard sword and used it as a crutch to stand up.

"That's the spirit, still got a bit of fight in you," Revan commented. Once Gregor had finally stood up and brought his bastard sword into a stance, ready to strike, Revan took his own stance that he favored: Form VI, Niman. Revan stood still, preparing his first strike. Gregor charged once more. 'It's as if that's all he knows how to do,' Revan commented internally.

When Gregor came into range Revan sidestepped the massive man and made one clean slice with his lightsaber, cleaving Gregor's bastard sword in two parts, both ends of the slice molten from the extreme heat of the plasma. Gregor and everyone else, except Brie, were absolutely dumbstruck at what just happened. The smell of ozone already was starting to permeate the immediate area. Gregor took one look at his now borderline useless sword and charged again, attempting to kill his opponent with half a sword. Revan, instead of dodging this time, kicked the Mountain in the chest staggering him. He then, with one fluid motion, sliced through the man's armored hands, literally disarming him. The smell of cooked meat filled the area, replacing the smell of ozone.

Gregor looked down, now hit with the pain of having one's forearms amputated without anesthetic and immediately cauterized, and screamed in pain. In seconds the pain was replaced by rage as he charged Revan once more, intending to stomp him into paste. Revan dodged once more and with two more fluid strikes removed the Mountain's legs rendering him nothing more than a torso with a head.

"You know, you'd think you'd learn after going through this several times already; but I think you just aren't capable of learning anything," Revan taunted. Revan was about to stab his lightsaber through the heart of the growling and snapping Gregor's heart, but he was stopped by a sudden Shatterpoint in the Force that was revealed to him. "So that's how it's going to be then," he said in a low voice.

Revan reached out with the Force and lifted up Gregor so he was above him. Revan then threw his lightsaber so it stabbed Gregor, not in the heart, but the gut. Gregor raged like a stuck pig and everyone, except Brie, was absolutely terrified and transfixed at was happening in front of them. Revan then channeled a concentrated amount of the Dark Side into his hands and summoned a storm of Force Lightning focusing it on the lightsaber allowing it to transfer all of its destructive power through the blade straight into Gregor's body.

Gregor screamed out in pain that seemed to never end to him. For once in his life, he was actually terrified of someone. The arcs of electricity arced over Gregor's body and soon turned from neurological torture to physical damage that all could see. The lightning started to create deep burn marks on Gregor's skin, turning it craggly. Revan forced more lightning into the man until it reached a critical mass and caused an explosion of blue-purple light which drowned out Gregor's final cry. When the light stopped, all that was left of Gregor was ashes and globs of molten metal from his armor. Revan recalled his lightsaber with the Force and extinguished it, but kept it in his hand.

When no one moved or said anything Revan piped up and asked the official, "I believe the Mountain is dead. That would mean Lord Stark is innocent and free to go, yes?"

The official said nothing but turned to the soon-to-be king for his orders. However, before Joffrey could say anything Cersei spoke up and commanded, "I will pay you five thousand gold dragons to kill Lord Eddard Stark."

"I will do no such thing."

Cersei puffed up in anger and shouted, "You dare defy the Queen Regent!?"

"You are not my ruler," Revan replied coldly. "Lord Stark and I had an agreement and I have fulfilled my end of the bargain. By killing him and gaining monetary gains that serves me nothing accomplishes nothing towards my goal."

"Not your ruler!? See here-!"

"I only serve the Force, no one else. You and your government is nothing but a small little speck of dust on the sheb (3) of the galaxy. Your politics means nothing to me."

Cersei growled in anger before shouting, "You will kill him or I will have his daughter killed right in front of him as well as his youngest once I find her as well as you!"

Revan gave a nod towards Brie who held a blaster rifle in her arms and aimed it at Cersei, a red laser sight painted on her forehead. "And you and your little henchmen will die before you can even harm a hair on her head," Revan said with certainty. "You have already seen what I can do without trying, do you dare see the power I have when I truly intend to destroy someone with extreme prejudice?"

Cersei stopped for a moment and thought to herself. She knew that this man had destroyed one of the most physically powerful bannermen that House Lannister had in decades without even trying. With this 'dark magic' he could destroy entire armies before he would cut them down with that glowing 'fire sword' of his. And he didn't even look winded even after taking several direct strikes and blocking them with ease. If the Mountain didn't even stand a chance, and this Revan character was just playing with him, what chance did the Gold Cloaks have?

"Leave. He is free," she declared.

"And Sansa and Arya?"

"Free to leave without threat of harm. Sansa's marriage engagement is annulled."

"And Ice?"

"It will be returned to its rightful owner."

"Good." Revan then turned to Brie, "Call the _Ebon Hawk_ , tell them to pick us up here." Brie nodded and put on her helmet to make the call. Revan turned to Ned and asked, "Might I offer you transport back to your home? After I leave I fear that your lives might become forfeit."

"You think the Queen would make an attempt on my life even after I've been exonerated?" Ned asked incredulously.

Revan nodded. "I've seen her type before. She's the kind that would say one thing in public but do another in private. It is my belief that she would send assassins after you and your daughters before you reached the North."

Meanwhile, up in the stands as Sansa made her way towards the arena next to her father, she heard Joffrey, the boy she fell in love with ranting and raving at how his mother had annulled their marriage before he could consummate it with her. She shuddered at the thought of having to have sex with the little demon. 'Tyrion an imp? Joffrey's more of a demon than Tyrion ever could be,' she thought. After all, she had suffered for her father's 'traitorous offense' by Joffrey himself through humiliating acts that left her feeling dirty even though he never deflowered her. Joffrey then shouted at how he wanted them all executed, although his mother put a stop to that.

Arya made her way towards her father and father's champion silently from some unseen place in the crowd. More than fifteen minutes later, a lifetime of time for those besides Revan and Brie, passed before a Gold Cloak arrived in the arena holding Ice and presented it to Ned. Revan used the Force and summoned the blue gem that was in the pommel into his hand. Revan took a moment to examine the crystalline structure of the gem before pocketing it. "Our arrangement is now complete, Lord Stark," Revan said with finality. "It's been an honor."

"I owe you a debt of gratitude, if it weren't for you then I would have never been able to see my family again," Ned replied, bowing his head slightly.

"You are an honorable man, Eddard Stark. Perhaps too honorable for this land. You saw what being too honorable did when you found something that someone didn't want being found."

"Indeed, I did. I will continue to be honorable."

"But remember that all will not be as honorable as you," Revan chastised. Almost as if by command a dozen Lannister sigil clad men walked into the arena with their swords drawn. "As you can see it appears that the Queen does not intend to heed the trial's ruling. You must have found something that she **really** does not want getting out."

"Indeed I did."

"It seems we are inconvenienced, aren't we, Brie?" Revan asked his companion.

She shrugged and replied, "It appears we are."

"How much longer until the _Ebon Hawk_ arrives?"

"Five minutes, give or take."

"Shall we wait for them to make the first move or should we?"

Brie hefted her blaster rifle and already took aim at the first soldier. "I think you already know my answer."

"Well then, shall we get started?"

Revan then threw a Force Push that leveled two of the men and slammed them into the nearest low wall with lethal results. Meanwhile, Brie had already put two blaster bolts into three enemies as two lined up just right to hit them with lethal headshots. She was acquiring her third target Revan ignited his lightsaber and slashed at three of the Lannister bannermen, killing them with ease. He then threw his saber, controlling it with the Force causing it to soar around them killing three more while avoiding the Starks, after which it returned to his hand. Brie finished the last two off by launching a stream of carbonite at them, freezing them in their place; to which she finished them for good by punching through the frozen head of one and roundhouse kicking the other, shattering their frozen bodies as her gauntlet had been programmed for lethality and not capture. The engagement had not lasted more than thirty seconds (4).

With the last of the Lannister men taken care of, and the soldiers and other onlookers, the Starks included, in shock, Cersei ordered more soldiers to try and kill them. However, that would take time; and time is what Revan had on his side. It would take them more time to ferry more soldiers here than it would for the _Ebon Hawk_ to arrive. He was right as his ship approached several dozen more soldiers arrived in the arena. "Create a barrier Brie."

She nodded and ignited her flamethrowers and laid down literal fire suppression, creating a wall of fire that the Lannister and Gold Cloaks didn't dare to cross. Right as Cersei was yelling at her soldiers to attack them and brave the fuel enhanced flames, the _Ebon Hawk_ arrived in all its splendor. It roared into the arena, its engines creating a noise that these pre-space age humans had ever heard before. Revan even heard one scream about 'dragons' before running away.

The boarding ramp lowered and Revan stepped forward and said before stepping inside, "Lord and ladies, your chariot awaits."

Revan walked inside towards the bridge and Brie followed close behind with the Starks in tow, ensuring they made it inside without straying. The ramp sealed shut and Revan instructed Carth to plot a course towards the North and Winterfell. Arrows launched at the ship bounced off the hull as if shrugging off spitballs. Inside the common area, the Starks sat and were absolutely confused at what they were in.

"Father, what is this?" Sansa asked.

Ned replied, "I don't know, child."

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the ship lurched to a stop and landed. Revan reappeared inside the common area and greeted them saying, "We are near the outskirts of Winterfell."

"How? It's only been a short time," Arya asked.

"If you do not believe me, you can look outside for yourselves."

The youngest Stark sprinted towards the loading ramp while Ned and Sansa followed quickly behind them, although at a slower pace. When they exited the ship they looked and saw the city of Winterfell just over the horizon as it was unmistakable. "This is impossible," Sansa commented.

None of them noticed Revan appearing behind them who replied, "Nothing is impossible if you have the will and resources to do it." He then gestured to their home, "Go, your family awaits you."

The two girls started to walk but Ned stayed for a moment too long and Revan noticed. "What is the true importance of the jewel I gave to you as payment?" he asked.

Revan sighed and replied, "Hopefully it will contain information that will prevent all out extinction, but you need not worry yourself about it." Ned only nodded but knew that Revan was hiding something, although he didn't know what. As Revan walked up the ramp he stopped and turned back to the walking away Ned and said, "If I were you, I would prepare for an invasion from beyond the Wall."

Before Ned could even ask what that meant Revan was already up the ramp and it sealed behind him. The freighter then shot off into the mid-afternoon sky leading Ned to more questions that he would never get answered, but there was one thing that he did know: he was home with his family, and that's all that mattered to him.

 **{Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, The Emperor Arrives (1:05 in) (5)}**

Meanwhile, in high orbit above the planet that had an anomalous orbit, causing it to have abnormally long winters and summers, Revan fished out a Holocron that had no crystal inside of it to read. He opened it and inserted the crystal he had obtained from Eddard Stark and the Holocron responded by displaying a galaxy map, primarily highlighting planets that had been long erased from the conglomerative galaxy map database.

But to Revan, he only said, "So there you are."

"So I assume you found what you were looking for?" Brie Vizla (6) asked as she entered the common room.

"Indeed I did. Chart a course for Mandalore, I need things before I head out and to return you to Canderous."

"Surely you don't think of me as weak?" Brie half-joked.

Revan shook his head, "No, but I know that this may well be a one-way trip and I feel as though the Force has something else planned for you that's not with me at the moment."

Brie thought for a moment before relenting, "As you wish." She then left Revan alone to keep staring at the hologram's display.

"I've finally found you, and I will end you once and for all," Revan said to no one in particular in the room.

 **The end.**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, the first official one-shot written by me for this profile. But as you should know by now, notes!**

 **1\. As you have read, and might know about Legends, Revan did marry Bastilla in the canon Light-side ending of KOTOR. This event happens after it.**

 **2\. Bes'kad, or a saber that is slightly curved (I've seen references saying it either resembles a katana or scimitar) made of Mandalorian Iron.**

 **3\. Sheb, or "ass".**

 **4\. If you read this carefully you might have noticed the similarities to the** _ **Star Wars: The Old Republic**_ **trailer "Betrayed" where Malgus kills six or more guards without even trying. It would be the same for Revan, all things considering.**

 **5\. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi OST "The Emperor Arrives": 5Fol9kwQ6-k?t=1m5s**

 **6\. Brie Vizla is an OC that I created as an ancestor to both Shae Vizla and Pre Vizla (and Sabine by familiar extent) who was attached to Revan on the orders of Canderous Ordo as a liaison between Revan and Canderous who was busy trying to reunite the Mandalorian tribes under him. If you are a fervent follower of my content, please remember her name as she will pop up with other OCs that I have in pilots or one-shots involving Mandalorians where they will more than likely have her as an ancestor. As I never described her really, if you know someone or want to make fanart of her and send it to me, maybe I'll consider it being the official "Brie Vizla" look. PM me if you're interested.**

 **So I do have some general notes that need to be addressed so that people aren't PMing me over and over to get the answer.**

 **Q: Why was Revan looking for a kaiburr crystal on the planet** _ **Game of Thrones**_ **is on?**  
 **A: As you know in Legends, after KOTOR 1 he left to go find the Sith Emperor that turned him and Alek (renamed Malek after his turn) against the Jedi and to destroy him once and for all. He followed the Force in his search and his search brought him to the planet where a kaiburr crystal was in the pommel of Ice that contained the location of the Emperor.**

 **Q: How will this affect the world of Westeros and the story of** _ **Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire**_ **in general?**  
 **A: I honestly have no clue, but I think more Northerners would band behind Ned rather than Rob as Ned has that factor of notoriety and respect that many had for him that Rob had to earn. As for how everything would end? I have no idea.**

 **Q: Will you create a story that will explore that?**  
 **A: I don't know as I already have a bunch of ideas that I want to get through as well as needing to get on chapters for stories I already have in motion.**

 **Q: Will the** _ **Star Wars**_ **universe affect the world of GoT/ASoIaF in any way?**  
 **A: I don't know because KOTOR happens well before the series that is now considered canon in Star Wars. I might do a hypothetical pilot where I explore that, but I don't know. Maybe the world Westeros is based on is actually Hoth? I don't know.**

 **That's all I can really think of for this so I'm going to call it here. If you have any further questions than the hypothetical ones I posted then feel free to contact me, although I might be a little late in getting back to you in a timely fashion as it is the season of Christmas and all that. But until the next installment of this repository I wish you guys, if you're viewing this before the 25** **th** **, Merry Christmas (screw being PC) and have a safe holiday.**

 **See you next time!**

 **Fun fact: Did you know the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is not the days before Christmas but after? It lists the days between Christmas and Epiphany on the Christian calendar as there are 12 days between the two.**


	16. A SW x FiM pilot (TFA era)

**Hello everyone and welcome back. This time I have an interesting concept that I wanted to put out there. It's a** _ **My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic**_ **crossover with** _ **Star Wars**_ **. Before you click that X and unsub from this story collection, just hear me out first. If you guys have read a lot of the stuff I've put up here concerning Star Wars you'd know that I have an extreme dislike of Disney for acquiring Star Wars and their complete dismissal of the Extended Universe content, even though they're trying to do right by the fans by bringing some of our favorites back like Thrawn and the rumors of Kyle Katarn or Dash Rendar returning as well in some way; despite that I do like what they've done with Rebels, Rogue One, and the new trilogy (and hopefully the new anthology films coming in the near future), especially the characters.**

 **Now to the other side of this idea. So a couple of years ago I was deep into the Brony community and obsessed over the content. Yeah, that happened. But I managed to come out of the obsession of that series and move on to other things, not really paying attention to it anymore. But recently I've been pulled back in, but not to an obsessive level, but in that "passing interest" kind of way. And so I went back to the FiM fanfiction site FimFiction, its name explains it all. Of course, like this site, there are many different fanfics ranging from fleshed out "what if?" scenarios to OC self-inserts to dropping a self-insert human into Equestria and just seeing what happens; of course with varying results and quality to them like any story.**

 **So I decided to create something and throw it into my story repository here. You know the reason why, that way I have no real reason to continue it if I don't want to or it is unpopular for obvious reasons. This story actually comes from the idea of the "displacement" fics that I've seen on the site for a while that gained a lot of popularity with a series of stories that were actually pretty good and of course knowing the internet the phrase "imitation is the best form of flattery" comes into play and you get some really good or bad fics. Hopefully, this is in the better camp even if it is a short pilot.**

 **So enough of my rhetoric and such, "what is the whole idea?" I can hear you asking. Well, the main character that I have created as an OC crash lands on the very strange planet (as it is a geocentric solar system and not heliocentric) that Equestria and her sister nations reside on in his T-70 X-Wing post-explosion of Starkiller Base after making an emergency jump to hyperspace to escape the gravity well that the reemerging sun created as Starkiller self-destructed. Now since the** _ **Interdictor**_ **-class cruisers became canon once more because of the Rebels series does make this story scenario plausible, although that leaves the** _ **Millennium Falcon**_ **'s jump straight into Starkiller's atmosphere questionable, I chalk it up to Han overriding the safety protocols installed in the hyperdrive's software. Plus, jumping inside of a gravity well, natural or otherwise, causes some weird things to happen when going faster than light. But that's just headcanon. But there you go, that's the entire premise, so let's get this show on the road.**

 **I should also mention that this is one of my experiments into both third and first person writing. And also before I begin I do have a few content disclaimers.**

 **Anthro!Ponies - Now I have used the phrase anthro before in my "Imperial Entanglements: Prologue" fic where I described Lily Moon where she was, while in a semi-transformed werewolf state, a level 1 on the "furry scale" on Know Your Meme (human with some physical animal characteristics, a set of ears and a tail). In this the ponies will be 3 on this scale, that being right in the middle of the road.**

 **TFA!Star Wars - I already disclaimed it above, but I feel as though I need to once more just to emphasize that.**

 **Rating: T – but a very low "T" because of fantasy/sci-fi violence and some made-up Star Wars swearing.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney (unfortunately) and** _ **MLP: FiM**_ **belongs to DHX and the Hub. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

 **WARNING: There will be puns that may make you groan and their existence is intentional.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

 _"Droid speak."_

 **[Perspective shift]**

XxXxXxX

 **[Third person - Narrator]**

 _Starkiller Base, unknown system, Unknown Regions._

It was safe to say that Resistance X-Wing pilot Blue-7, otherwise known as Caleb Wren, second cousin of famed Rebel agent and ally Sabine Wren, was not having a good day. First, the whole Hosnian system was wiped off the galaxy map thanks to a First Order superweapon called Starkiller Base; it did kill stars so it was appropriately named. The second was participating in the attack on Starkiller as part of Black Squadron commanded by Poe Dameron; it's not like he didn't want to assist his brothers and sisters in arms, it's just that the overwhelming odds, as well as the pressure to destroy the base before it could fully charge its weapon, was a bit overwhelming in the pressure department. The third was being shot at by hundreds if not thousands of TIE fighters, dodging more than you can shoot back? Not fun.

Friends and allies fell to First Order fighters and turret gunners alike. Somehow him and many other Blue Squadron members, as well as some Red Squadron, managed to escape with their lives. In order to fight further, Caleb had done something sort of stupid and delayed his rejoining his squad in an outbound escape vector.

 **[First person - Caleb]**

I had messed up, that much was certain. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bad pilot. I'm good, but I'm not Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, or Poe Dameron good. Hell, in sims I always lost to Poe; but at least he was a good commander and gave me tips on how I could improve my skills. What to focus on and what to put less of one on. And I took these lessons to heart and learned from them. Hell, many of them saved my ass more times than I could count.

But what had I messed up? Well, I had made the decision to lead a small flight of TIEs away from the main group and my fellow pilots by leading them away into the weapon's cityscape. Again, dodging turret's cannon fire and fighters right on my tail while zipping between structures was not my ideal way of having a good time. Although, the latter portion wouldn't have been as bad if it wasn't for the kriffing asshats on my tail. My R3 astromech droid, a droid that my family had lovingly nicknamed Ion, although I'm not sure why but he's like family, all the same, warned me of several weapons locks. I responded by rolling to avoid more missiles coming from behind, luckily said missiles slammed into a turret in front of me. Talk about lucky.

He bleeped out more lines in Droid Binary, a language I knew quite fluently growing up with the little bugger, "I see it," I replied as I let loose a proton torpedo into a heavy turbolaser cannon that was lining up a shot on me.

Over the comms system, I heard Poe say, "It's going to blow!"

I then knew without a shadow of a doubt that we managed to complete our mission. Starkiller Base was going to explode like the Death Stars of thirty years ago. I immediately shot upwards while dodging the turret blasts as well as the TIEs behind me. The planet cracked and split as what looked like molten rock burst forth from them. I took longer than I would have liked getting away from the soon-to-be-exploding base, allowing one of the TIEs to get close and make a shot on me. I felt it well before Ion could alert me of it.

I looked back and saw that my starboard-ventral engine had been hit and was smoking. Ion beeped and my cockpit's status screen immediately zoomed into the damaged area on the X-Wing as well as my thruster power level dropping. "Kriffing hell," I muttered. I also noticed that a growing gravity well was expanding from the planet, much further than a planet of this planet's size should have. I looked on the sensors and saw that the hyperdrive wouldn't allow me to safely activate it until I reached the edge of the well, and it continued to grow exponentially. I saw as several more of Blue and Red squadron, well the surviving members, flew towards open space before jumping to hyperspace.

My hands flew over the controls flipping switches and other buttons. "Ion, I know this is going to sound stupid, but deactivate the hyperdrive safeties," I say.

Ion bleeped out something along the lines of, _"Are you kriffing mad?!"_

"If we don't disable the safeties then by the time the planet does explode we'll still be in the blast radius and I'd rather not become One with the Force anytime soon!"

 _"What about hyperspace coordinates?"_

"We're going to have to go without them!"

 _"Without hyperspace coordinates?! Are you mental?"_

More cannon fire from a TIE behind me sort of made the whole need for the situation to speed along sort of made it a bit of a priority. "Well unless you want to be vaped in a big ball of fire, plasma, and other not so fun things then yes!"

 _"What about... oh I don't know... crashing into a planet!?"_

"As soon as we jump into hyperspace reactivate the gravity well dropout sensor once we're out of range, at least that way we won't end up some splatter on some planet."

 _"Very well, but if this comes to bite us in the ass I blame you!"_

Immediately Ion went to work and a few tense moments passed before the red icons that were around the hyperdrive status as well the navigation turned green with little red exclamation marks near them. I quickly consulted the local cluster on the galaxy map and spitballed a route between several celestial bodies. "Well, here goes nothing," I say as I pull the lever that activates the hyperdrive. Immediately the pinpoints of lights that were stars in the distance stretched before the blue 'tunnel' of hyperspace formed. I was safe, if only for a while. "Ion, try to do whatever repairs you can do from your spot. I'm going to take a nap, alert me when the mass shadow alarm sounds."

 _"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say."_

 **[Narrator]**

As Caleb's T-70 X-Wing jumped into hyperspace he had no way of knowing that his escape attempt had attracted the attention of one of the very few TIE fighters of the First Order's Special Forces. It too managed to escape the initial explosion of Starkiller Base as well and too was inside the danger zone of the newly released star. Apparently, the pilots inside too had the idea he had to escape the planet's explosion and subsequent expanding mass shadow. The pilots, regardless on how much the First Order pilots hated the Resistance as a whole, had to admit that the Resistance pilot had a good idea. The pilot deactivated the Special Forces TIE's hyperdrive's safety protocols and jumped blindly as well, leaving the now recreated sun behind them.

 **[Caleb]**

 _Unknown system. 8 hours later._

Sleeping in a pilot's chair is not comfortable in the slightest. I would know, I've done it several times and no matter what padding you have in the chair itself, you always end up with a sore and stiff back. It wasn't surprising given the fact that the chairs weren't designed for sleeping, but it didn't make my want for them to be more comfortable any less. All I really had in the cockpit of my fighter was some water, any and all food was currently stored in the very small cargo bay that primarily housed survival equipment. The food I did have in the cockpit was a uj cake that I figured might as well be a good last meal in the case that this was my last flight.

"Ion, how are we looking?" I ask as I look over the diagnostics.

" _I managed to repair the engine to a satisfactory level. Don't get hit there anymore or that engine will be permanently dead and will need to be replaced entirely instead of a few parts. Shields are nominal but not optimal. Power routing to weapons is at optimal levels."_

"Good. That's one less thing to worry about. Any idea where we are?"

" _I am uncertain, due to the sudden expansion of the gravity well our course may have been altered unknowingly. We could still be headed towards the Illenium system or we could have been deflected towards parts unknown. Why do you think those safeguards exist?"_

"Hey, unless you have another plan that we could have used it would like to hear it," I quip. His dead silence was my answer. "That's what I thought." I looked at the fuel gauge and based on the amount of fuel I had left either we were going to trip the mass shadow safeguard or were going to run out of fuel and be forcibly dropped out. "If we don't drop out soon we're going to be in trouble," I mutter. "What do you think Ion, should we drop out and take a look around or just keep going?"

" _We have traveled long enough where it would be prudent to get star chart data to calculate our location."_

"That's good enough for me, dropping out of hyperspace." I reached forward and deactivated the hyperdrive and took control of the yoke. The blue tunnel of hyperspace fell away to form star streaks which gave way to real-space. I looked out the viewport and saw what looks like part of a nebula out I the distance. I turned on the long range sensors and what they returned confused me. "Ion, are you seeing the same readings I am?"

 _"The fact that this system has the star and moon circling a lone planet? Yes."_

"That should be impossible, right?" I ask.

 _"It's illogical."_

I sigh, "Maybe the sensors took a knocking during the dogfight." I looked at the probably faulty map collected from the sensors. "There is a terrestrial planet, though. I guess we could land there and do some more repairs."

 _"We should probably send a transmission to see if there is anyone even on the planet. If we're lucky it could be a New Republic base we never knew existed on record."_

"You make a good point," I reply as the planet grew bigger slowly as we flew towards it carefully. I turned on the long range transmitter and set it to the frequencies that both the New Republic and the Resistance use. "Ground control, this is Ensign Caleb Wren of the Resistance, please come in, over." After getting no response I expanded the frequency range to old Rebel Alliance frequencies, after all, there were still some that used these frequencies. "Ground control, this is Ensign Caleb Wren of the Resistance, please come in, over." Yet again I received only silence. "Ion, set the transmitter to send the next message over all known frequencies, except known First Order frequencies." He beeped once more complying with the order. "Ground control, this is Ensign Caleb Wren of the Resistance, please come in, over." Instead of silence, I got static, but nothing more. "What do you think?"

" _I do not like this."_

"I don't either. It's too quiet." I maneuvered my fighter towards the planet. We zipped past the planet's moon and as we did I felt a dark presence emanating from it. I had only felt something similar to this feeling when I visited the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Both places felt the same; cold, dark, oppressive. The Jedi Temple had an, unfortunately, dark history as it was the place where fifty years ago thousands of men, women, and children in the Jedi Order were mercilessly slaughtered by the new Sith Lord Vader. What could it have been on this moon that made it feel this way?

As I leveled out in one of the furthest LaGrange Points I ordered, "Ion, start a cartography and topography scan, find us a good place to land." He whistled off a reply as my fighter's sensors came online. A small two-dimensional map appeared over one of the other screens that weren't displaying vital information. The map became three-dimensional as the sensors scanned the terrain. The more massive continent that has several biomes including deserts, plains, forests, and mountains. Then something caught my eye. "Ion, please confirm what I'm seeing. Is that a castle and city built into the side of a mountain?" I squinted as the image was of a lower quality.

" _I am unsure as this is not a surveillance ship. I can determine that it is not natural by any means."_ He paused before continuing. _"There are several other large settlements that appear on the eastern and western coasts of the continent."_

"What do the thermal sensors indicate?"

Ion pauses for a moment. _"There are clusters of hot spots in these areas consistent with congregations of sentient beings."_

There were no artificial satellites so they had not achieved space travel. It appears that there are no flying machines of any kind. It was safe to say that this was a pre-sale flight or pre-aviation civilization at the very least. "Find a gap in the heat signature groupings but still close to civilization, we may need to live under the radar." Ion beeped as he started his search using the parameters I gave him. Finally, the map zoomed onto a forest. I rubbed my chin in thought, "It's out of the way, we can hide in the forest and there's a small town nearby. That will work the best for us." I started to maneuver towards the location that I had marked on my map, but the proximity alarm began to sound. I quickly closed the map that the sensors built and brought up my local map which had IFF tags enabled. I immediately knew something was off because the incoming craft wasn't broadcasting a New Republic or Resistance IFF, as one did when 'greeting' another friendly.

My sensors picked up the model of the craft, a fighter-sized one I might add, and my heart sank. It was a First Order Special Forces TIE. I immediately activated the deflector shields before veering away from my current course. The TIE must've seen me because it immediately changed its course from drifting out of hyperspace to heading towards me on an intercept course. The TIE opened fire on me and I immediately rolled out of the way before the bolts could hit home. "Hold on, Ion!" I shout.

 _"What are you thinking?"_ he screamed out.

I kept dodging as I headed towards the planet itself, which happened to be shrouded in night. "TIE fighters have great maneuverability in a vacuum, but they have horrible handling in atmosphere."

 _"I hope you know what you're doing!"_

"Me too, buddy," I muttered as I dodged more blaster cannon rounds and headed in a juking, downward flight towards the continent below.

 **[Third person - Twilight]**

 _Equius, Canterlot, Canterlot Castle. 2200 hours._

Princess Twilight Sparkle was frustrated, that much was certain. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy being a princess. You know, with the stress of having other ponies constantly watching you and you having to wear a smile no matter HOW uncomfortable it makes you. The stress that every meeting that you have with diplomats could be your 'last' publicly considering that every action was watched by the rest of the public with some sort of sick fascination; she blamed the journalists for that one. The fact that everyone, even her friends to an extent, looked at her as a princess only and it was hard to be JUST Twilight; SHE wanted to be just Twilight. She didn't like how her fellow princesses had a role in this world and she didn't, or at least not a clear one. Sure, she was the Princess of Friendship, but what did that mean exactly? Ever since she and her friends had defeated Tirek that was something that festered in the back of her mind.

She walked onto the balcony of her assigned room in the castle, a room that had always been hers when she visited. She looked at the stars that Luna had placed precisely like she had every night and she had to admit it looked beautiful, as it always did. There was even a pair of shooting stars out dancing in the sky. They were moving sort of erratically, actually. 'Curious,' Twilight thought, 'Luna must be really playful tonight to be putting on a show.'

The small dots of light slowly became larger before the light that surrounded them dissipated into blackness. Then the most curious sounds filled the night, one sounded like a hum while the other sounded like a screech though they were far away. She even saw green lines coming from one of them flying towards the other, which caused them to emit a type of screeching as well; while the other launched red bolts towards the other and had a more high-pitched whine to them. She even thought that they were kind of pretty. However, the hairs on the back of her neck stood upright before two green lights flew from the furthest craft and slammed into the empty streets below creating an explosion.

The only thing that ran through Twilight's head that she said aloud was, "What in Celestia's name was that?!" All the while the humming and screaming got closer by the second.

 **[Caleb]**

In retrospect, dodging blaster cannons? Not that bad. Dodging them while attempting to make it through the atmosphere while attempting to also not burn up on reentry? Horrid. A starfighter might have shields as well as repulsorlift engines to help negate most of the effects of reentry, but that sort of becomes so much more difficult when you have a kriffing asshat behind you trying to kill you.

Every time that the TIE opened fire on me I had to make minute adjustments to not get hit. I activated my underslung heavy blaster cannon, something that I had found to be an excellent idea that Poe had 'stolen' from Han Solo years ago that was implemented on the _Millennium Falcon_ , and fired at the TIE causing it to move or be hit as well. It wasn't like the heavy cannon was that powerful, well when talking about starfighter cannons; it was meant to be an anti-personnel cannon more than anything else, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't pack a punch when too many bolts found a new home in a TIE chassis. As has been shown on multiple occasions, for example, the Battle of Scariff where a door gunner was able to incapacitate an AT-AT by repeatedly shooting at the legs. The TIE was forced to also make minute adjustments to avoid being hit too many times in a row as well.

As soon as I exited reentry, and my entire fighter wasn't on fire, I reoriented my shields to that the rear deflector was at double rear strength. I took a quick peek at my sensors which were loading data on the city in front of us, the same that was built into the side of a mountain.

"Ion, do you think that city's streets are wide enough for an X-Wing?" I ask.

 _"If you have your S-Foils set to cruise and you were to fly through it with a minimized profile, like say at a ninety-degree angle, it would be possible."_ There was a pause. _"You aren't seriously thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"_

I tapped a button executing the S-Foil locking sequence and as the wings closed I comment, "Why my dear Ion, I have no idea what you're talking about."

 _"Oh, yes you do, you-!"_ he then let out a droid scream as I performed a nosedive towards the city at full attack velocity.

The upper layers of the clouds sped past me in a blur and several other clouds seemed to puff out of existence as I plowed through them. Ion kept the TIE in the sights of the heavy blaster cannon to discourage it from taking a shot at us. I kept the nosedive going until pulling out and rolling ninety degrees in between two small skyscraper-sized buildings. I zipped by so fast that some windows that were closed shattered being so close to a passing sonic craft. I assumed there was a lot of chaos caused by my little stunt.

The street that I was zipping down was a slightly narrow, but still large enough to leave me a one-meter wide space on both the top and ventral hulls of my fighter to maneuver just a little. I gunned the engines so that those outside would hear a low hum that would eventually reach a high pitch as I passed them.

I could see out of the corner of my eye that the TIE was still hot on me, although right above me. The end of the street quickly approaches. The end ends in a platform of both a star and a moon shaped icon of some sort, idols maybe? And beyond that is a cliff. I had to come up with a plan on the quick. And I knew just what to do.

Immediately as I cleared the cliff, and palace that was sitting on top of it, I pulled straight up and performed a loop placing me right behind the TIE. I immediately fired one of my quad-linked cannons and took out the rear-facing gun the Special Forces TIE had installed. I locked on to it with my targeting computer and tried to get a completely stable lock to shoot it down. A few tense minutes later of a 'follow-the-leader' type scenario, I finally got a lock and let loose a barrage of cannon fire. Three of the five shot landed on the wings causing it to immediately tank towards the ground. I saw it hit the ground in a very large forest, but I didn't see an explosion.

"Ion, find us a landing zone," I order as I watch the ground to see if anyone was down there, primarily the TIE. A waypoint appears on my map which would set us a good klick away from the crash site as well as place us close to a body of fresh water.

Twenty minutes later I was on the ground once more and my X-Wing was landed and powered down appropriately. I started working on getting out the survival gear inside the small cargo bay which consisted of a tent, hunting and fishing equipment, a sleeping bag, two sets of clean and dry clothing, a blaster rifle, and a combat vibroblade. It took a good half hour to set up the tent and sleeping bag, I had a manual tent rather than one of those fancy self-building ones.

After the tent was built in built and started a fire, with the assistance of Ion who ignited it with his welding torch. While Ion tended to the fire, I hopped back into the cockpit and configured the scanners to detect and alert Ion of anything larger than a Womp Rat and to deal with anything smaller than a humanoid, I'd anything was humanoid or larger he was to wake me up and alert me to it. I changed from my pilot's gear into a loose pair of pants, a white shirt, and a leather jacket. I set my blaster rifle, and old A280-CFE, near the foot of my sleeping bag and my pistol, an A180, under my jacket I used as a makeshift pillow. Not that long after that, I fell into blissful unconsciousness.

 **[Twilight]**

Twilight ran from her balcony in her room to the throne room where both of the Immortal Princesses were already, she didn't think to teleport to the room instead. "Princess!" she shouted as she approached slightly out of breath, "there's been-!"

"I am aware of the two objects from the heavens, my sister just finished telling me about them," Celestia replied.

"What were they? First, they looked like stars and then they weren't."

"We were well aware of this as they did not respond to my commands," Luna replied. "They were also not of our world as we have never seen such a craft before."

"A craft? Like boats or balloons?"

"Yes, but made of a foreign metal and it flew much faster than anything we've been able to build for commerce purposes."

"Shouldn't we find it then?" Twilight asked excitedly. "If these… aliens are friendly they could share a lot of knowledge with us!"

Celestia enjoyed her student's enthusiasm, but there was one thing that was bothering her about these two crafts. "Twilight, you have to remember that these two were fighting over something. We do not know who is in the right," said Celestia.

"As for finding them we know, one crashed in the Everfree Forest while the other landed inside it. While the Lunar guard is competent, in their abilities, the Everfree would be safer to navigate during the day rather than the night. That being said, sister, I relinquish this task to you," Luna said.

"But we shouldn't wait-!" Twilight attempted to interrupt, her quest for knowledge getting the better of her.

"Twilight, while these… aliens, as you put them, have caused damage to Canterlot, primarily broken windows and the fountain in the square, they did not cause any loss of life. It appears whoever they are have rested for the night and it would be wise for us to do so as well."

Twilight raised a hand to attempt to interject, but let it die off. She realized she let her scientific curiosity overcome her common sense and rationality. Of course, it would be quite stupid to venture into a dark forest where there are dangerous creatures with a habit of making meat a menu item. "I understand. Of course, it would be foalish to venture out at this time of night. I'm sorry," Twilight apologized with her head bowed slightly.

The Princess of the Sun placed a hand on her student's shoulder and smiled. "I understand perfectly where you are coming from, my young student. But you have to remember that we do not know these aliens motivations."

"Agreed," Luna chimed in. "Ponies of this era know only of peace between nations and the only violence that they know of exists on the fringe of our society where creatures do as they please; like in the Everfree forest." She took a step towards one of the windows that overlooked the valley in which both the Everfree and Ponyville resided inside of. "I fear what these aliens could do with technology so powerful such as theirs."

Celestia walked over to her sister. "I know, I fear what they do as well. We must be cautious but we must also believe that they do come in peace, at least for now."

"I pray for your sake, as well as the sake of our subjects, that you are right," Luna replied, "for if you are wrong we will all pay for it." She started to walk away and said as she left the throne room, "I will continue my watch and will send somepony if something urgent comes up." And with that she left through one of the many secret passages that led back up to her room.

As the door closed Twilight looked back at her mentor and asked, "Why is she sounding very pessimistic all of a sudden?"

Celestia sighed. "Luna… she has a few regrets she is still working through. One was that many years before our encounter with Discord, made a friend that later betrayed us with false promises and the like. Then there was Nightmare Moon and the more recent events involving Discord once more and Tirek." She shook her head, her ethereal mane moving with it, "But that is in the past now." Twilight approached Celestia at the window. "I have a task for you. As you know I have a meeting with the ambassador of the Gryphon Kingdom to finalize trade routes between our two nations, something that has already been put off twice already and the Gryphons are getting antsy; due to that I will not be able to personally direct the search, that's why I want you to direct the search."

"ME!? But I know nothing about leading guards or anything like that!" Twilight exclaimed.

Celestia placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder and reassured her, "You will do fine, all you need to do is give them commands and they'll do the rest. They'll make reports to you if they've found anything or not. Plus, when you do get your own guards you'll have to learn how to command and work with them. Think of this as another lesson in being a Princess."

Twilight rubbed her chin, "I suppose I could do that."

"That's excellent! Now, off to bed. You'll have to wake up early in order to make it back to Ponyville by midmorning."

 **[Third person - Luna]**

The dream world belonged to Luna. It was hers to view and manipulate to her heart's content. In the dream world, anything goes. Over the last several years she had seen many ponies do things that they would never do in real life: wives and husbands cheating on each other with their ideal stallion or mare (sometimes with their significant other watching eagerly), chaos, mayhem, and even some disturbing instances of murder. The things she saw…

But this was her domain and her responsibility. To seek out dreams of those that were having nightmares or night terrors and console them in the dream world. If the nightmare or terror was because of something in real life she would help walk them through it to lead them to a solution that was both the most ideal and of the pony's creation.

She looked around the dream state in which every pony in the kingdom that was asleep had a door that had their name written on it. Opening the door would allow her to enter the dream. The door itself was a different color for each kind of dream. Dark blue for sad, red for anger, green for pleasant, pink for more… amorous ones, and finally gray and black; gray for nightmares and black for night terrors.

All around her doors sat on a plane that radiated around her signifying where each individual dreamer was. She didn't need to move personally as whatever door that called to her would move to her. There was one that really called out to her, but more out of interest rather than need.

She called the door to her and was intrigued to say the least. She couldn't help but be quite interested in the door as it was completely different than what she usually saw. The door was a metallic gray with what looked like geometric lines carved into it. What made it stranger was the letters that would have spelled out the pony's name were in a strange script that she had never seen before, it was sort of geometric, if she were to compare it to something; however, it didn't match any language that she could think of, current or ancient. The door had no knob or handle in which to open it, which made it all the more strange. She had to fight to find the mechanism to unlock the door, which happened to be a button on the door frame. The door quickly moved up and out of sight in a hiss of air and there before her stood the portal into this individual's dream realm. She stepped through and was floored at what she saw.

First and foremost, there wasn't a single pony to be seen, only these... hairless, although that wasn't completely accurate, creatures dressed in what looked like brown robes and across from them were figures, all masked, dressed in all black brandishing weapons. It was raining hard, lightning and thunder filled the entire area with light and sound that deafened and blinded her. The figures fired handheld weapons at the much younger brown clad individuals, cutting them down. There was even one that brandished a red cross guard blade of some kind. Many of the brown-robes fought back in vain.

Finally, only one remained who blocked the red and green bolts coming from the handheld weapons redirecting them elsewhere. She, or at least Luna interpreted her as she brandished a green blade. Her features looked fair with fiery red hair and green eyes. The masked individual approached her and they crossed blades for a short time until the masked one got the better of her and stabbed her through the chest. The black-clad removed his blade and as the girl fell her lips moved.

Luna was suddenly pulled from this scene to another. A young male, or at least that's what she assumed based on the previous scene, approached by another in a suit of blue and black armor. The armored one said something in a language that Luna didn't understand, but what she did know was that the boy's expression changed from happy to all of a sudden sad with tears running down his face.

The scene changed once more, this time a fairly small amount of the same creatures that Luna saw before, all dressed in the same type of armor as the other one she saw, gathered around a pedestal made of wood and on top of it was the same girl as before, but this time she didn't look terrified or in pain, but oddly at ease. A lit torch was brought by another and was given to the boy. He slowly walked forward and placed it near the bottom of the pile which quickly caught fire. It was then Luna realized that this was a funeral pyre not dissimilar in practice to what some of the outlying countries did with their dead. The boy took a few steps back and stood with the rest of the gathered individuals. One of them placed a hand on his shoulder and said something in the same language as before and handed him a silver tube.

The gathered stood in silence until the entire body was engulfed in flames and someone started a hauntingly beautiful chant in the same language.

And as quickly as the dream started, it ended and Luna was forced out of the dream; something that happened when the dreamer woke up.

 **[Caleb]**

My eyes shot open and I found my right hand holding my pistol aimed at the doorway of my tent and the other holding the kaiburr crystal that I had like a pendant around my neck. I was breathing heavily for no reason. It hit me I had that dream again. The one where somehow, I knew what had happened to Jyn even before grandfather told me. I wanted to deny it, but seeing her body confirmed it.

I took a few deep breaths before saying, "Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum Jyn Wren (1)."

Jyn was a lively girl, and she was older than me by a good nine years. Mom and dad named her after the famed Hero of the Rebellion that stole the Death Star plans from Scarriff years ago and died in the process. Jyn was a somewhat quiet girl, or at least I remembered her that way, and she was as stubborn as a Toydarian during a good sale; she never let anyone tell her what to do or what to say. She was a true Mandalorian in that way. She was also one of the few Force-sensitives from Mandalore in well over a thousand years to be inducted into the Jedi Order, or well the formerly New Jedi Order. That had all changed when Kylo Ren attacked Skywalker's Jedi Academy.

There was a significant investigation into the whole thing. After all, several children of high-ranking officers in the New Republic Navy, as well as a child of a Senator, were killed in the bloody assault. It didn't take long for the investigators to figure it out as there were only two people unaccounted for Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and Ben Solo. After Luke had resurfaced he revealed that it had been a man named Kylo Ren and his Knights of Ren that killed off his entire Jedi Academy while he was off planet dealing with a dispute that required a non-biased party to act as an intermediary. As there were witnesses to Skywalker's intervention it didn't take long for families and members of conspiracy forums on the holonet to connect Ben Solo with the mysterious murderer Kylo Ren.

The bodies of the deceased children were returned to their families for whatever traditions they had for disposing of the dead. For Mandalorians that meant cremating their dead while loved ones looked on and giving something to the remaining family members. In this case, I received my late sister's lightsaber. It was her only possession that she really valued as she was the one who built it from scratch. I left the lightsaber back home on Mandalore and took the kaiburr crystal inside and took it with me when I joined up with the Resistance in the form of a pendant. I felt, in a way, that she was still protecting me when I wore it.

I heard the beeping of Ion and looked to see that his photoreceptor was giving me the 'concerned' look. You tend to get a general feel for these things after a while. After all, he did ask if I was alright. "I'm fine, Ion. I just had an unsettling dream," I say.

 _"You mean the one where J-."_

"The same," I interrupted. I got up and holstered my blaster on my leg before putting my jacket on. When Ion gave me another 'look' I replied, "I'll be fine, this isn't the first time I've had that dream before. It's usually not that vivid, though, that's what caught me off guard." I grabbed my A280, set to be in the sniper configuration, and stepped outside the tent.

It was just about dawn. I could see the twilight on the horizon, or at least the glow of it; the tree canopy made it slightly difficult to see it clearly even though I was in a clearing. "Ion, boost the sensors. I want to know what's going on around us. I'm heading out to hunt something to eat."

 _"Why? You have rations."_

I checked the power pack and locked it into place. "Because I only have two weeks worth of food for the rations and I'd rather not use them up all at once in case I need them." I slung the rifle over my shoulder and secured my vibroknife under my jacket before putting a comlink earpiece on. I then tell Ion, "Chase anything off that's smaller than you and in small numbers. Hide and comm me if anything larger, and more intelligent, shows up."

Ion gave a 'look' of being offended, _"What do you take me for? Stupid?"_

"Stubborn would have been the word I would have chosen," I mutter as I start to walk into the much less frightening woods, but that doesn't mean I didn't feel a chill run down my spine. I raised my A280 up to a more shouldered position and marched forward, ready, yet unready, for anything.

 **[Twilight]**

Princess Twilight Sparkle arrived in Ponyville early in the morning accompanied by an entire train car worth of Royal Guards supplied by both Celestia and Luna themselves, primarily because Twilight had yet to have her own Guard established as of yet. The guards made sure to move as quietly and quickly as possible as to not wake up the local residents who were still sleeping except for a select few whose jobs required them to wake up at an early hour. Some ponies such as the Apple family who had to work the farm or the Cakes if they had an order to complete that day for a client.

"Sergeant," Twilight addressed the pony in charge of this search team, "send a guard to each of my friends and tell them that I wish for them to join us in the search."

The officer looked confused at this order. "This may be out of line, but may I ask why, ma'am?" she asked in return. "Surely the Guard can handle whatever the Everfree throws our way."

"Over the last several years we've ventured into the Everfree several times and every time have come out no worse for wear." 'Except for those few close calls,' Twilight thought to herself. "My friends and I have the knowledge and expertise to navigate the forest with little difficulty. That, and Fluttershy is good with animals, even those inside the Everfree."

The sergeant knew that her friends consisted of two Earth ponies, two Pegasi, and one other Unicorn. The extra stallionpower and persons to help in the search, especially those that could fly, would be considered invaluable for the search. "Very well, I see the advantages of allowing your friends to accompany us. Though, if there is fighting I do request that they stand aside and allow us to do our jobs."

"Of course, that's more than reasonable," Twilight replied. She may not have liked being treated like royalty but these ponies knew what they were doing when it came to combat and combat magics as that's what they were trained to do. Sure, her friends would help if needed, but they would at least attempt to not get in the way.

A half hour later Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all arrived one after the other at Twilight's home, primarily inside of the 'round table' room. After they were all situated, tired but situated, Applejack was the first to speak up, "Twilight, not that I don't waking up early, why are we all here?"

"Yes, darling, why was it needed to wake up so early?" Rarity asked in a sleepy fashion.

"Did you hear what happened last night?" Twilight asked.

"Ah heard some weird sounds coming from Canterlot before they passed over the farm last night," Applejack replied.

"Yeah, it woke me up last night with screaming," Rainbow Dash added. "It took me forever to get back to sleep."

Fluttershy chimed in next, "The crashing sound woke up my animal friends as well."

"And there were green and red lights going pew pew pew and everything! It was like a giant sky party!" Pinkie added with a strangely happy enthusiasm that her friends were used to by now.

"Why do you ask?" asked Rarity.

"Because we're going to assist the Royal Guard in finding it in the Everfree forest," Twilight replied.

"WHAT?!" everyone, sans Twilight, shouted in unison.

"Ahm sorry, but this really does seem like a job for the Royal Guard," Applejack commented.

"I agree," Fluttershy added somewhat timidly, "the animals in there can be a bit... unfriendly."

"Come on, girls!" Rainbow groaned, mostly in grogginess. "We've been in there before plenty of times and we've come back every time!"

"Yes," Twilight added. "And we know our way around the forest, the guards don't. With our help we can make sure that everypony makes it back all unharmed."

There was silence for a few moments before they all agreed. "Ah suppose that Big Mac and Applebloom can take care of the farm for the day," Applejack said.

Rainbow said, "And I can delegate the weather pattern for the day to one of my underlings."

"And I suppose that I could have Discord watch my animal friends for a while," Fluttershy said, getting a few askew looks from her friends, more so in confusion. "He's been getting along better with Angel as of late."

"That's good because-," Twilight started before the Friendship Map activated and zoomed into the Everfree forest where the Cutie Marks of all six hovered over. "That's interesting. Well, it looks like we would have had to go anyway," Twilight sighed.

Twilight and company met outside with the guard after instructing Spike to send a letter to Discord and moved towards the Everfree forest. The guards at the front of the search party stopped at the edge of the forest. The Royal Guard did one last check on their weapons, armor, and other equipment before they all moved out with Twilight and company in the middle of their formation.

About a half hour later of walking or flying, depending on the guards, they met a crossroads in the path they were on. The sergeant split the main group up into a smaller group and said smaller group explored that path. An hour passed and several smaller parties were split off from the main group until all that remained was Twilight and her friends as well as two guards and the sergeant.

Rainbow Dash flew overhead to try and scout ahead of the group. An hour later, and a lot of walking later, Rainbow showed up hovering over them who looked quite excited. "Guys, I think I've found something!" Rainbow reported before zipping off again, the girls following closely behind. Minutes passed before they arrived at a clearing. "There it is!" she shouted.

They looked inside the clearing and saw what was clearly a small camp; that, and a massive metal bird sat in the clearing as well. "Oh, my," Fluttershy exclaimed softly. "What is that?" she asked in reference to the metal bird.

"It certainly looks like what passed by my balcony last night," Twilight remarked.

"Ah don't know if I'm the only one seeing this, but doesn't that tent over there look too small for that?" Applejack remarked as she pointed to the aforementioned tent which looked large enough to fit two ponies at the most.

Pinkie walked over to the fire and commented, "And the fire is still burning strong."

"That would mean whoever it is that rode on this beast and that they are still nearby," the sergeant noted.

Rainbow floated down to join the rest of the group. "Is it just me, or do you feel like we're being watched?" Rainbow asked the group. An ominous silence followed.

The group of ponies grouped together unconsciously until they were all back to back. Each one of them watched the forest around them, waiting for SOMETHING to jump out at them. They started to feel relaxed and sighed in relief. They laughed the tense situation off as if it was nothing, feeling as though the danger had passed. It was then they heard a growl, the growl of a Timberwolf more specifically, and then a few seconds later a shrill shriek came from some bushes before a metal trash can, no taller than half a pony, shot out from the bushes and moved much faster than expected deeper into the forest, the Timberwolf following not far behind.

"So... was that what the map sent us here to find?" Pinkie asked, breaking her uncanny silence.

"I don't know," Twilight replied.

"Maybe we should follow it then?" Rarity added.

Without a second thought Rainbow shot up into the air to follow the Timberwolf and the trash can and the rest of Twilight's group followed closely behind.

 **[Caleb]**

 _Ten minutes earlier..._

I looked down the scope of my rifle and saw a quadrupedal animal in a clearing near the river that ran through the forest. I could take a shot at the head, killing it instantly, but that presented a smaller target for me to fire at. I could always aim at the torso of the beast, but as this was a species that I was unfamiliar with I am uncertain that one shot would drop it, well unless I wanted to disintegrate it and I don't want that happening. Of course sneaking up on it and stabbing it in the jugular, carotid, or the windpipe was out of the question as it did have quite sensitive hearing as its ears twitched towards me several times already as I got myself into an optimal position. I made up my mind and decided that I was going for the headshot as that would kill it instantly.

I took aim and zoomed in on the electro-sights until I had a target lock on it. I switched off the safety and began to slowly squeeze the trigger when-.

My comlink suddenly went off in my ear causing me to jerk the trigger and miss the animal causing the blaster bolt to go wide and strike a tree. The animal, now startled, ran in the opposite direction. "Kriffing hell," I say aloud. Well, there goes dinner. I tap my ear and sling my A280 over my shoulder. "Yes, Ion?"

 _"Get your fleshy ass back here, there's a group of seven humanoids and they've found the X-Wing!"_ Ion beeped into the comlink. _"And before you ask, yes, I'm in the bushes hiding silently."_

"Hold on, buddy, I'll be there shortly," I reply as I close the connection. I run back towards the clearing, but it's at least a good thirty-minute jog to reach it, maybe a fifteen-minute run if I was lucky. Of course, considering that this was a forest, I would have to watch my footing.

I ran for a good ten minutes before the air just felt... wrong. Like something else was prowling these woods. Something intelligent. My eyes widened as I immediately ducked behind a tree just as a blaster bolt from a blaster rifle came careening towards, now past me, and into a tree. I can safely say that was a definite close call. I peeked out to see who it was, although I could have guessed due to the fact that only three (now two since Starkiller Base) groups of armed forces had that kind of accuracy: the New Republic special forces (assuming any of them were still living), well trained Resistance members, and the First Order. My eye managed to catch the reflective black armor of a TIE pilot before another bolt came flying towards my exposed eye and I ducked back to save my precious eyesight.

Ok, this is not good. I lean to the other side of the fairly massive, and by massive I mean two of me put together, tree trunk and peeked out the other side. I saw another set of TIE pilot armor and ducked behind before they could see me and pin me down further. So both survived. Good for them. Not really.

I drew my A180 and fired blindly around the tree trunk towards one of the pilots causing them to hide behind cover while the other attempted to pin me down. I popped out of cover for a split second and fired three rounds at one of the pilots, one of which hit them in the thigh. The second pilot unleashed a storm of blaster bolts, all of which were unfocused as they ran towards the downed pilot.

I fired a few more times from behind cover blindly. Then all of a sudden it got really quiet and I didn't like it. "Hey! What are you-?" a female shouted.

"Quiet, you," the now obviously male pilot demanded. "Resistance scum, come out now and surrender or this… being dies."

I looked out from my hiding place and saw the TIE pilot holding his F-11D blaster rifle to the head of a… ok this was a new one for me, we'll at least I know how explorers felt when discovering a new species. The being, which for the moment I was going to assume is female because of the high pitched voice unless their species all speaks with a high pitched tone, is a bipedal humanoid species that appears to have purple fur and purple and violet colored long hair and tail and also has purple eyes. She appears to have fur covered hands a well as legs that end in stumps… never mind those are hooves like some beasts of burden have or the Toydarians have. She also appears to have a single spiral horn on her head and I could even see feathers sticking out suggesting wings.

I wondered if this was the case for her entire species, but my rhetorical question was answered when six more of her species showed up. They were mostly of the same body type, although one wore metal armor, yeah that'll do well against a blaster, and some had wings and some others had single horns as well, and the last few didn't have anything special at all; only this one had both. As there was no deviation in their general physique I can only assume one of the following about their species: 1) That they're a monogendered species, 2) they're female and their male counterparts are elsewhere, or 3) they all look the same in appearance but are different biologically. Or I'm missing the point entirely.

I knew that if I surrendered I would more than likely die, but if I didn't then this local was going to die and her companions, or neighbors, would follow shortly after. I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I then had an idea, it was sort of risky, for both me and the local, but it was a plan none-the-less. I took out my vibroblade from its sheath and made sure that it was off completely, I didn't want a severed arm any time soon, and hid it up my coat's sleeve.

"If you aren't out here in three seconds, she dies!" He shouted. "One! Two! Thr-!"

I slowly walked out from behind my tree cover with my hands already up. "Easy, easy. No need to be hasty," I say. My blaster in plain view and pointed away.

"Drop it!" I complied and let it fall, hoping that I didn't damage it in some way. "You Resistance scum."

"That's a bit hypocritical coming from the First Order pilot whose superiors blew up an entire system," I reply, allowing the pilot to get closer. The girl's companions were confused at what I was talking about, as was to be expected to an extent.

"Shut up!"

"Ok, ok," I say as I keep my posture as unthreatening as possible. "You've heard of Mandalorians, right?"

"Everyone in that galaxy has."

I then saw my opening as he leaned away from the girl, who was still in his grasp but his throat was exposed. "Then you'd know we don't like to go down without a fight." I moved quickly and threw my knife at the pilot, aiming at the exposed neck which only had a bodysuit to protect the vital organs, unlike the plasteel armor that was on the rest of the body. The knife quickly sank into the trooper's neck, as he was caught completely unaware, and he fell backward onto the ground as he released the purple furred girl. I sprang forward and grabbed the F-11 blaster before the trooper could aim it at either me or the girl. I quickly looked over and saw the other pilot and saw that they were on the ground and looked to passed out from the pain that my blaster bolt made.

I aimed it at the head of the downed pilot with a knife inside him. "I do apologize for this," I say before firing a single bolt into his head. There was a single whine of the rifle as the red bolt came out and struck him. Killing him instantly. I removed my knife from the dead pilot's neck and activated the vibration function on it, cleaning it of the blood immediately and I turned it off before sheathing it. I then turned my attention to the girl, "Are you alright?"

She and her friends seemed to be in complete shock at what happened. "I- you- you-," she stammered. "You killed him!"

"Uh, yeah," I say matter-of-factly. "He was going to kill all of us."

"But how could you do such a thing?" she shouted.

I start to walk on over to the second pilot. "It's called a war for a reason, princess. Oisk happens and people die, good people and bad people alike."

I start to check on the pilot and I can tell this close up that the pilot's a woman. The hourglass figure and the breasts were sort of a dead giveaway, even though the armor seemed more unisex. "How'd you know she was a Princess?" the blue, winged one asked.

"She's royalty?" I ask dismissively trying to keep them occupied. Obviously, I had broken some kind of taboo about killing. Oh yeah, I save your ass and this is how you treat your savior. I reach down and place my index and middle fingers on the neck of the woman and check her pulse. From the rhythm, I can postulate that she's out cold. The blood loss wasn't helping, I would imagine. I would need to interrogate her to see what her TIE had for resources, maybe I could jerry rig an antenna from their TIE's parts.

"Yeah, how don't you know that? Everypony knows that... unless you're the alien!" the pink one said rapid fire. I made sure to grab the other F-11 blaster and sling it over my shoulder by its strap. The pink one then gasped loudly before disappearing in a cloud of smoke that took her shape. How she did that, I do not know.

"How do we know you're a good guy?" the orange one asked. "You were talking about a war, who's the good guy, you or them?" she asked as she pointed to the dead pilot and then me.

"I'd like to think I'm a good guy or hero. Although, the First Order won't think that. They think we're standing in the way of their Empire's second coming," I reply. I place a finger to my ear, "Ion where are you?"

"Ion?" the yellow, winged one asks.

"Yeah, little fella about waist height, silver and green with a semi-transparent dome, and a big black photoreceptor. Can't miss him."

"Are you talking about the shrieking garbage can?" Blue asks.

I raise an eyebrow, "He does that occasionally. You saw him?"

"Well the last time we saw 'him' he was being chased by Timberwolves," the white, horned one replied.

"Timberwolves?"

 _"Help! I'm being chased by a possessed tree!"_ Ion shrieked as he entered the area, speeding past me.

I heard growling and snarling like the alpha of a pack animal. I turned to see what could only be described as an Endor boar-wolf that was completely made of wood. "I take that's a Timberwolf?" I ask. The natives nodded. "And they're hostile?" They nodded once more. "Oh, goodie," I say dryly right before I fired a good ten bolts at the beast with the rifle, all of which would have been considered kill shots as they all impacted the face of the creature causing deep scarring. The beast then burst into flames because of the superheated plasma rounds impacting it. The fire then engulfed the entire creature burning it to ash. Purple's horn lit up and water appeared out of nowhere and doused the now smoldering pile of ash until it was all but mud on the ground.

Well, that happened. I was outright confused at the sudden appearance of water, but I sort of had more pressing issues at the moment. "Ion, you have a set of binders on you?" Ion tootled a response and a panel opened on his side to reveal one of his claw probes holding a set of binders. "Thank you." I then bind the wrists of the female pilot, making sure that she can't cause any trouble.

"What are you doing?" the armored one asked accusatorily.

"Taking her into custody?" I saw their looks and sighed, "Listen, only she knows where her TIE landed and what is intact on board it, it may have the parts I need to make repairs."

 _"My sensors indicate more of those possessed trees are coming our way,"_ Ion reported.

"We need to get back to my camp, now."

"Why, can't we discuss whatever we need to here?" Orange asked.

"Unless you'd rather face an entire..."

 _"At least twenty."_

"Twenty more of those Timberwolves, I suggest we move quickly." I lift the pilot to her feet and I call out, "Hey, a little help over here." A purple aura surrounded both Purple's horn and the pilot. "Thanks." I hoisted my newly acquired blaster and moved to pick up my pistol and A280. "Let's move before they can get closer."

Our newly forged, and very tentative, group forged forward through the forest until we reached my clearing. I immediately ran past my X-Wing and the others followed. I activated my wrist command and activated the underslung heavy blaster on my X-Wing and it immediately started to sweep the rear of the parked fighter in sentry mode. I aimed the rifle and turned off the safety. For five long minutes, nothing happened. The only thing I could hear was the sound of breathing, the whirring of a servo, and the breeze.

I looked to Ion as if reading my mind replied, _"There is nothing but us on sensors."_

I breathed a sigh of relief as I placed the safety back on and slung the F-11 back over my shoulder. I should mention carrying three blaster rifles, including one of which that was a sniper, was not light. "We're safe now," I reported. I started walking towards the fire pit that I made the other night. "You can place her over here," I gestured towards the tent and the makeshift log seat. Purple placed the pilot down near the log, her body resting against it.

I went to the cargo bay of my fighter and pulled out a medkit and moved towards the pilot. The natives must have known what a red cross on a medkit meant because they let me patch the pilot up without an issue. "I figure before you question me about anything you should introduce yourselves," I say as I get out one of the few bacta patches I have.

Purple went first, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship."

"And I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria and I'm also a Wonderbolt," Blue said. I had no idea what a Wonderbolt was, though.

Pink and shy went next, "I'm Fluttershy, I take care of animals."

Orange then went, "Ahm Applejack, I run and operate Sweet Apple Acres with mah family."

"Rarity, I'm charmed to make your acquaintance," the white one said.

"And the one who ran off was Pinkie Pie, she's a bit... eccentric," Twilight admitted.

"And I'm Sergeant Swift Spear of the Royal Guard," the armored one said.

"And you are?" Twilight asked.

I finished applying the patch and the pilot groaned a bit in pain. Must've been slightly awake but not by much. I turned around and stood tall. "I am Caleb Wren, house of Wren, clan Vizsla, " I reply.

"What are you, exactly?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm human, one of the many sentient species of this big galaxy. Technically I'm a Mandalorian and my home world is Mandalore. Birthplace of ancient warriors known throughout history."

"Who's that, then?" Twilight asked regarding the pilot.

"She's also human, but part of the First Order, a tyrannical group of remnants of the old Empire that was abolished thirty years ago." I reached forward towards her helmet, "Now to see who's under the bucket." I twisted the helmet which released a small hiss of air being pressurized. I lifted it away and what I saw froze my blood cold in its veins, it was if a Gundark had been nearby.

"Mr. Wren, are you alright?" Rarity asked.

"T-this is impossible," I stammer with my eyes wide. "She's supposed to be dead."

"Who is?" Applejack asked.

"My best friend who disappeared more than fourteen years ago."

 **To be continued...?**

XxXxXxX

 **And that's all I got for this one. Yeah, cliffhangers, you gotta hate 'em! That wasn't too bad, was it? But you should know by now what next, numbered notes! Well, one specifically because it was the only one.**

 **1\. Translates to: "** **I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal** **" followed by the names of the deceased. It's a Mandalorian daily remembrance chant for fallen family and friends.**

 **Yeah, that's the only one I have for this chapter. Part of it is not wanting to overload it all with a ton of notes this time around. But I do have my whole new Q/A section to explain things.**

 **Q: What time does this happen during?**  
 **A: Immediately after the Force Awakens and season 4 of FiM.**

 **Q: Why are the FiM characters anthro?**  
 **A: Other than "because I can?" I thought it would be interesting but if it's not then that's what a pilot is for.**

 **Q: If you intend on making this a full story, where will you go with it?**  
 **A: It will more than likely be a "technologically advanced guy trying to live in a technologically inferior society while making new friends and attempting to get home" kind of story.**

 **Q: Where were you going with that cliffhanger?**  
 **A: First of all, it felt like a good place to stop. As we know in canon the First Order did kidnap and indoctrinate children as well as indoctrinate children belonging to Imperials that left into the Unknown Regions as well.**

 **Q: How will FiM fit in with the overall Star Wars universe?**  
 **A: Well, I guess that's what the hangup is on my decision to post it here in the repository rather than in an individual story. I haven't really thought that far ahead yet.**

 **Q: Is magic the Force?**  
 **A: I have no idea at this point. I am playing around with that idea but I am unsure at the moment.**

 **Q: Is Caleb Force-sensitive?**  
 **A: Unknowingly, yes. But only like Poe Dameron or Han Solo, nothing more than that.**

 **Q: How is Caleb related to Sabine Wren?**  
 **A: He's her cousin's son, still immediate family.**

 **And that's all I have for now. I look forward to seeing you guys all next time!**


	17. A HP x FiM (Humanized) pilot

**So before you click of right now, just hear me out. This was an idea that came from another person, unsurprisingly, for the concept at least. That story was "Royal Alicorn Siblings" by Dark Priestess666 (** id: 9773750 **). The only idea that I am taking from it is the following: Lily Potter, the mother of Harry Potter, was an ambassador and a princess prior to her death at the hands of Voldemort for a reclusive nation saturated in magic that is hidden from the world. In the story that I kindly cited Lily is an alicorn princess and niece of Celestia and served as an ambassador to Earth, primarily magical Britain, prior to her untimely death to which she was survived by her two children, a son, and a daughter. The only similarity that my story will share with hers is that Lily was an ambassador and niece of Celestia. The rest of the differences? Well, they're listed down below. I'd say prepare for trigger warnings, but I'm losing respect for that phrase so... content advisories below!**

 **Human!Dimensional rift!AU!Equestria – So this is something that I've explored in another pilot that I've written for a Naruto story, well the dimensional rift one. As for the human and AU tags, I'll get to those. So basically Equestria can only be found by those that know how to get there. All characters inside of the rift are humans. The AU tag covers anything that differs from what is seen in the show.**

 **Humanized!characters – As stated above, the characters inside of Equestria aren't going to be ponies, but humans. This is specifically how my work differs from Dark Priestess's. All of the character race names as they'll appear, which I have listed right below this paragraph, will have specific physical traits that only that "race" embodies.**

 **Triumvirate = alicorns, as they embody all three races.**  
 **Fliers = Pegasus.**  
 **Mages = unicorns. While naturally physically weak, they make up for this shortcoming with magic which they cast willing it with their hands (foci may be used to make casting easier) which are shown by glowing "tattoos" on their dominant arm colored the same as their eye color.**  
 **Dalish** **= earth ponies; the ONLY similarity they share with the Dragon Age universe is their name, nothing more. Due to a lack of wings or magic, this race is naturally hearty and strong in comparison to their counterparts.**  
 **This is a similar concept that I've done inside of one of my stories and side of The Scrapyard called "Bailing Out" (** id: 12270226 **). This is a concept that I have used before and I will more than likely use it again in the future should I revisit a Humanized pony character story idea.**

 **A couple of justifications right off the bat. Now, after doing some logical thinking and watching the movie "Equestria Girls" it appears as though Twilight is at least 14 to 16 in that movie based on the rest of the characters. Therefore, using that logic it would be reasonable to justify that Twilight is at least 13 when she enters Ponyville for the first episode of the first season and therefore 16 when she ascends in the season 3 finale. If I am wrong, then I am ignoring it for the sake of this story and will implement that new information in any future stories or continuations of pilots, especially this one. Running with this logic established, Harry will be one year younger than Twilight.**

 **Rating: K+ - T as the content more than likely won't pass beyond a T rating.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word (and original characters).** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling and** _ **My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic**_ **belongs to the Hub, Hasbro, and DHX. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

 **NOTE: There are no horse based puns in this chapter. You're welcome.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

 _'Letter reading.'_

XxXxXxX

Lily knew she didn't have much time. She had ten minutes at the most until her husband fell to Voldemort's wand. While it was quite pessimistic to think that, Voldemort is a powerful wizard and none had stood up to him and won, save for Dumbledore himself who had fought him several times to a standstill. She had to finish the ritual circle before Voldemort got here, for her son. There was only one place that she trusted her son to grow up strong and raised as she would have done, with her aunt Celestia in the land of Equestria. She could trust Sirius, but he was prone to childish antics and quick to make hasty decisions that could backfire. Remus could be trusted as well, but he was in the debt of Dumbledore for his childhood education, something that Lily did not like. Dumbledore himself was sketchy; he claimed to care greatly for the Wizarding World but allowed the Order to do squat against the Death Eaters, and they killed indiscriminately for their master.

No, the best for her son was with Celestia, a millennia old and very powerful Triumvirate that could handle any threat below her level. It would be suicide for Voldemort to face a demigod who could wield the power of the sun with ease. She was kind as she was beautiful.

She finished drawing the final rune in the array with her right hand as she mentally drew another one with her magic. She heard a thud as the door refused to open from the hallway. The door started to glow red as her runic trap activated. Lily knew that she would have a minute or so before Voldemort would overpower it and enter the room. She pulled out an envelope that she had prepared months ago in the case she was about to meet her end, primarily at the hands of Voldemort as he and his followers have been hunting them down all because of a prophecy that may or may not be true. Lily cast a sticking charm and attached the envelope to little Harry's back.

She kissed her son's forehead and said, "Sweetheart, no matter what happens remember that your father and I will always love you." She then stood up and stood in front of Harry, her wand at the ready down at her side. The red glowing rune on the door flashed brightly once before fading permanently. As soon as it faded Voldemort came walking into the room.

"Lily Potter," he said as he walked into the room, "you are most impressive when it comes to runes."

The array wasn't quite ready, she needed to stall for a little bit. "I am unsure whether I should take the word of a murderer at face value," Lily replied.

"Oh, you're being too modest. You are worthy of receiving the title of Runes Mistress. You interlaced a reinforcement array with an intent array placed within it, brilliant!" Lily noted that it was extremely rare and uncommon for the Dark Wizard to complement anyone. "It would certainly be a waste to kill you. Stand aside and give me the boy and I will let you live."

She still needed another thirty seconds for the array to power up. "How do I know you won't go back in your word?" Lily asked with false interest.

"If you desire assurance then I would be willing to swear a Wizard's Oath to complete our deal."

While it was abhorrent and terrible to think these thoughts, the deal was enticing. However, this was Voldemort she was talking about; he could say the Oath in such a way that she could be killed by one of his underlings and his hands would be clean, and his magic would recognize that. There was a tingling in her arm that told her that the array was fully powered and ready, it just needed the catalyst. "No deal," Lily firmly said. She had fully accepted what would happen next (1).

Voldemort frowned, simulating some form of emotion. "That's… disappointing," he said as he raised his wand. "You could have been so much more than... this in my New World Order. After all, I know your origins." He sighed in faux disappointment, "Oh well, _Avada Kedavra_." The acrid green lance of magical energy emerged from his wand and slammed into Lily, killing her instantly without pain; although, the shock was still on her face as her body reacted to the spell.

Her body slumped into a predetermined spot that she had intended all along and the runes etched on the floor began to softly glow. Voldemort walked over to the crib and looked at the child within it. "You're not much to look at, are you?" he commented. "Prophesied to be my downfall. Given enough time you could have certainly been my equal." He then pointed his wand at the child who was just comprehending that his mother was on the ground and not moving, " _Avada Kedavra_." As he muttered the second word of the incantation the runes glowed at a blinding light level as the spell raced towards the infant and stopped right in front of him, right before coalescing into a ball of acrid green spell energy. Voldemort stared in abject curiosity and horror as it did, milliseconds later the spell raced immediately towards Voldemort and slammed into his chest causing him to explode into dark spiritual energy.

The wraith that was the remnants of Voldemort raced out of the house and into the night. The house was completely destroyed, only ruins of a once happy home left in its wake. It would be hours later that Sirius Black would arrive at the home and would later chase after Peter Pettigrew. Hagrid would also arrive just as Sirius was leaving, discovering that the house only had two occupants, dead parents Lily and James Potter. When this was reported to Dumbledore only one thought ran through his mind: "Where is Harry Potter."

XxXxXxX

 _Canterlot Castle, Throne Room. Twelve years before Luna's return. Mid-afternoon._

Princess Celestia sat in her throne room listening to another one of her many lords of the country complaining about one inane thing after another. It was times like this she wished she could clone herself and said clone would take care of audiences with subjects while she did other things. Then that clone would get the same idea and within a week the entire nation would be overrun with Celestia clones. She was about to pass judgment in this arbitration when she felt the static buildup of magic starting to permeate the room. Her guards were immediately standing alert as they felt it shortly after their ruler did as she was more in-tune with magic than they were.

There was a green tinted, white flash that appeared right in Celestia's lap. When the flash had dissipated she felt a small weight in her lap. She looked and saw a child sitting in her lap with a letter attached to his back. The baby looked familiar to her, especially those eyes. The child looked up at her and started to reach for her face, cooing cutely. She picked up and started to read the letter.

 _'Dear Aunt Celestia,_  
 _'If you are reading this, that means both James and I are dead and my contingency plan worked to save Harry from Voldemort. I have sent him to you so that way he will remain safe and will grow up the way I always wished he would, with love and understanding. If I did not send him to you I have no idea where he would have gone. I can trust no one here other than James and Sirius right now as Peter Pettigrew was our secret keeper for the Fidelius charm and the only way to give up the secret is to willingly tell someone else it. The only reason we could even trust Sirius was because he was a false flag all along; he would be the obvious choice, but no one would expect cowardly Pettigrew to be the secret keeper._  
 _'I have no idea if we can even trust Dumbledore. He's a powerful wizard and I would like to believe that he is a good man, but many of his actions during this war have been making us think otherwise. You would think that allowing us to strike back with force after being attacked with lethal spells would be reasonable, but we have been only able to use stunners on our enemies while they slaughter our friends and allies._  
 _'I already know that with our deaths that there will be many true allies and those with less than honorable intentions will be vying for the Potter family fortune and vaults. Therefore James and I, after I had spent a lot of time convincing James, have given you Power of Attorney of the Potter accounts and fortune so that you can take care of Harry without dipping into the Royal coffers._  
 _'I regret few things in life, one of which is not being able to see Harry growing up. I also regret not coming to you first, but Dumbledore insisted that we were safe in the family home, much good that did. I humbly request that you take care of him like I would have. I don't know if Dumbledore or others will be able to find Harry in Equestria or not; I don't know if the owls that Hogwarts has will be able to track Harry there or not. After all, he is both Equestrian as well as being the heir of a noble and ancient house in Britain. I also regret not being able to welcome back Aunt Luna when she does eventually return. I pray that it will all go well for you in that regard._  
 _'I love you and will certainly miss you and Harry._  
 _'Love,_  
 _'Lily Potter, the emissary of Equestria to Britain.'_

Celestia folded the letter and placed it in one of the many hidden pockets in her pure white gown. "This court is now in recess," Celestia commanded as she picked up Harry and stood up.

"But your highness," one noble complained, "I haven't presented my case yet!"

Celestia was annoyed and let it show as she summoned her 'Royal Canterlot Voice,' (2) something that she only used during large gatherings where she had to address the entire crowd, "You will wait until I return." Those not ready for the loud, magic enhanced voice were deafened for a short while. Celestia excused herself as her subjects got the ringing out of their ears.

Celestia carried the child out of the throne room and entered the private quarters of the Princesses and their guests. "Captain," she addressed her shadow, "please summon the royal doctor to my private chambers."

"Of course, your highness," the mage saluted before running off.

Celestia walked into her private chambers and set her niece's son on the bed gently. It had been a while since she had taken care of an infant, but like a bicycle, it was hard to forget. Using her magic she conjured up a stuffed dog plush doll and made it dance in front of the infant. The infant giggled as the doll danced in front of him.

A few minutes later the Royal doctor arrived in the Royal Bedchambers looking slightly confused, and rightfully so. "Your highness, you summoned me?" he asked as he bowed to his princess.

"I did. Whom you are about to examine needs to stay between us for now," she ordered. The doctor simply nodded and stepped forward to the bed. "This is my nephew. He recently came into contact with some dark magic and I want for you to examine him."

"Of course, your highness." He stepped forward and with a flick of his wrist activated his magic. Celestia knew that this was his unique quirk on how he used magic. His right hand glowed with light yellow magic and not a moment later the same magic field surrounded Harry as well. A few moments later the aura subsided.

"Your findings, doctor?"

"Everything seems to be normal except for one thing."

"Oh?" Celestia asked calmly as though she were asking about the weather.

"I found what seems to be the echo of a runic based spell used for transmitting someone or something long distances, allowing it to breach the dimensional wall even!"

'That would explain how Lily sent Harry here,' Celestia thought.

"That's not all, though. I also found something written underneath all of it. I also found the remnants of a protection spell, an ancient one at that."

"What else can you tell me about it?"

"Other than both spells were cast by his mother, based on the resonant magic, I can say nothing else for certain."

"Thank you, Doctor Feelgood (3). You are excused." As the doctor left Celestia contemplated what she was going to have to do to raise the child right.

XxXxXxX

 _Five years later. Canterlot castle._

Harry knew from since he was the age of three that he was not Celestia's biological nephew, similar to Prince Blueblood who was also her nephew. He also knew that Cadence was also her honorary niece as well, similarly to how his mother was before he was born. Cadence even babysat him every once in a while with another mage girl named Twilight Sparkle. It's not that Harry didn't like her, but she got so engrossed in her books that sometimes she didn't realize what was going on in the world.

Harry walked through the 'empty' castle with his shadow Vigilant Watch, one of the Royal Guards. She was one of the many mages that worked inside the castle on a daily basis; she was also his impromptu magic tutor as well. After all, when your aunt runs a country she has little time, unfortunately, to spend time with anyone else unless she makes time for them. That happened to be the case with Cadence before she ascended to being a Triumvirate a year or so ago, right before Twilight passed some kind of magic test for Celestia's School for the Gifted. Now she was showing Twilight as much time as she needed as she was now Celestia's newest apprentice; an honor reserved for a select few over the last millennia. Harry was slightly jealous of this, as this random girl from Canterlot was getting more attention from his aunt than him. Luckily, though, while Twilight got Celestia during the day, Harry got his aunt in the evening after Twilight went home for the day.

Harry walked into the private dining hall that was well hidden in the castle, primarily for defensive purposes when the castle was used as a stronghold. Celestia was seated at the center of the table on the longest side, allowing her to have many guests both in front and beside her.

"Harry, my beloved nephew," she greeted as he entered. Harry bowed as it was customary, and how he was taught by his etiquette teacher. "Oh, please, none of that," she said while waving her hand dismissively. "Please, have a seat." Vigilant Watch pulled out Harry's chair which was right next to Celestia's and he took his seat. "So, how was your day?"

The table was made from ancient mahogany and skillfully carved and shaped until it resembled what it was today. "It went fine, auntie," Harry replied as he placed a napkin on his lap.

"Oh? And there wasn't a certain mage that gave you trouble?" Celestia teased.

Harry groaned in annoyance. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "Twilight wouldn't stop asking me how I levitated her books during class," Harry sighed. "It was annoying."

"You've managed to conjure a telekinetic field? I'm so proud of you!" Celestia shouted as she glomped her nephew.

"I didn't. I just got surprised and they levitated for a split second," Harry admitted grumpily.

Celestia knew that this was what some of the wizards would call 'accidental magic,' or as Celestia called it: magical discharge. Mage children, especially those who didn't practice magic enough to keep control of it occasionally let out a small stream of magic to relieve the 'pressure' inside them, usually during times of stress or when something unexpected happens, like getting surprised by a classmate.

"Oh well, don't worry about it. These things happen to all mage children your age until they learn how to control their magic," Celestia reassured him. She messed up his hair and said, "You'll have to learn how to do that soon, ok?"

The dinner progressed without a hitch, even when Blueblood came in and made a fuss about not wanting to eat what Celestia explicitly ordered for the young mage. It was an hour later and Celestia had already settled Harry into bed and was about to read him a bedtime story, but before she could he asked, "Auntie, could you tell me a bit about my mom?"

She took a moment to blink, processing what he had just said before smiling at him, "Of course, what did you want to know about her?"

He snuggled deeper into his covers and asked, "What was she like when she was younger?"

"She was much like you when she was younger. She was curious, she asked a lot of questions, she liked playing pranks on the guards when they weren't paying attention, and she liked exploring the castle. A lot like you, now that I think about it," she giggled.

Harry laughed too. He then asked, "Auntie, why did mom leave Equestria?"

"There's... no easy way to answer that question, my little Harry. There were a lot of factors to be taken into consideration," she sighed. "There had been talks for ages for us to open contact with the outside world. It was then when Lily slipped through a dimensional rift that had randomly appeared mid-transit during a routine teleport that she met Dumbledore. After intense negotiation, it was decided that Lily would be the first mage in Equestria to become a student of Hogwarts in its history and that she would represent our country as a student there."

"The magic school?"

"The same."

"Why didn't mom come back when the bad wizard was going around hurting people?"

"It was a dangerous time and they couldn't make it back to the hidden rift without exposing themselves, as well as you, to those that they once called friends and those that wanted to hurt you."

"Me? Why? What's so special about me?"

"That is something that I will tell you when you get older; when you have been properly taught how to use our magic," she said sternly, right before ruffling his hair once more. "I will tell you one day, that I promise you. But right now you need to get to sleep." She tucked him into bed and turned out the magelights (4) that were in the room. She kissed him on the forehead and said, "Good night, sweet prince. I love you."

Harry yawned a reply of, "I love you too, auntie."

Celestia walked out of the room and quietly closed the door behind her. Once she heard the latch catch she leaned against the door and said quietly, "Oh Lily, I wish you were here to see your son grow up."

XxXxXxX

 _Canterlot castle. Five years later. T-minus one year till Luna's return._

Today was a special day for Harry. What day was it? His eleventh birthday! Later tonight he was going to have a party to celebrate it in which he would invite all of his friends and even some of the children of those that were considered 'high society' would attend as well. The best part? The presents and cake! Oh don't get him wrong, he didn't like getting presents because they were fancy or anything; he just liked getting them from his friends to which he would then get them something awesome for their birthday.

Harry walked into the Royal Dining Hall skipping without a care in the world, his personal guard still keeping close to him and was always within arm's reach. Well, except in three places. The dining hall, his bedroom, and the bathroom or bathhouse; there really wasn't a need when in one place the Princess herself was there and could deal with any substantial threat, the second he slept in, and the third he was allowed his privacy.

When he arrived he saw his aunt sitting at her usual place, but this time there was a guest. An owl.

"Auntie, why is there an owl in here?" Harry asked.

Celestia sighed, "I was afraid that this day would come. Harry, please take a seat."

Harry did as he was told and took his seat next to his aunt. "What's wrong?"

"Harry, you know that you are only half Equestrian, correct?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember what I told you of your father's side?"

Harry took a moment to remember what she had taught him about his family. "Only that dad was a Pureblood member of a noble and ancient house on the outside."

"There's a bit more, however." Celestia took the envelope that the owl was holding and presented it to Harry. "You see, when children on the outside, primarily in Britain, turn eleven they receive a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Think of it like my School for the Gifted. That letter which you're holding is your acceptance letter to that institution. My question to you is, do you wish to go?"

"Why would I want to go?" Harry asked casually.

"Well, first of all, you'll get to learn more about your father's side and his magic that he possessed, something that you have as well. You may even make some new friends there."

Harry thought for a while and then asked, "Can I think more on it?"

Celestia smiled. "Of course you can. This is your decision of course. But remember that if you do decide to go you'll have to keep up on your studies from school here as well."

"Ok, auntie," Harry replied.

They ate breakfast while talking about the events of later tonight. Meanwhile, in the back of Celestia's mind, she needed to talk to Dumbledore and make specific demands of him and his school if Harry was going to attend. She wanted her favorite nephew to be safe to learn and explore his life.

 **To be continued...?**

XxXxXxX

 **And that's all I got for ya this time around. And before I get to all the good, juicy post chapter notes and announcements, numbered notes!**

 **1\. Seriously? Did you really think that Lily was going to sell out her own son? What kind of monster would I be to do that?**

 **2\. Think the** _ **Sonorus**_ **charm but you don't need a wand to use it.**

 **3\. Your obligatory Motley Crue reference, ladies and gents.**

 **4\. Think of the Magelight spell in** _ **Skyrim**_ **but can be controlled like regular electrical lights can.**

 **Alright, that wasn't so bad, was it? I bet a few of you aren't too happy with the MLP pilot chapters I've put out; but hey, that's what this repository is for: random ideas that wouldn't fit elsewhere.**

 **Before I get to my little Q &A segment I'm going to address why this isn't a fic or a planned one at this point in time. Well, first of all this completely rewrites Harry's early life and I would have to plan for every interaction that he would have at Hogwarts with every student that we see, and maybe a few OCs as well, and I would also have to consider whether or not I want Harry to be a Gryffindor instead of another house as his upbringing would have made him more socially conscious of the political house that Slytherin is pre-Year 5. Another thing is that Harry's presence will change things from the very beginning of FiM as his first year takes place one year before Luna/Nightmare Moon's return; I will have to plan that all out as well.**

 **Now that that's out of the way, the Q &A!**

 **Q: Why humans?**  
 **A: Because I can and I like to think outside the box.**

 **Q: Will you be pairing up Twilight and Harry together?**  
 **A: I am not planning on it, but it could happen should the cards/stars be aligned.**

 **Q: Will Harry become an alicorn/Triumvirate?**  
 **A: IF this happens it will be something akin to how Twilight ascended where she went through trials and tribulations to ascend. If I am going to make Harry one of the four (then five if it happens) most powerful, mortal beings on the planet it would be through something like that.**

 **Q: This was a short pilot compared to your other one.**  
 **A: And? I thought it was an appropriate place to stop for a pilot chapter. I'm not building a huge world building thing here for this one. If that happens it will be in the final release.**

 **Q: Will a multi chaptered, saga-like series come out of this?**  
 **A: Meh, I don't know. I'll play it by ear.**

 **And that's all I have for hypothetical questions. If you have any others that these didn't answer then I'll get back to you via PM as it's easier.**

 **Please note that there will be at least one more FiM related fic that will be posted here and it... will be a surprise but hopefully a good one.**

 **Until next time!**


	18. A SW x RWBY pilot (Mando OC)

**Yeah, you guys should stop being surprised by now. It's another pilot.**

 **So I was doing some thinking while writing up another pilot with a similar concept, that being a bounty hunter. A while back I saw a Mandalorian in Remnant story where it was some guy during the Old Republic that gets thrown into Remnant before season 1 starts and I thought, "$10 says I can do something similar yet different," and here I am. I also saw an interesting Jedi one so maybe I'll revisit that one as well. Who knows?**

 **But anyway, back on topic. So why did I decide on a bounty hunter? Well, it sort of seems like a job that would be readily available in Remnant considering that criminal elements, as well as Grimm, tend to have their way with society. That, and it is almost like a job that anyone with a set of balls of steel would be able to do without formal Hunter/Huntress training; not to say that any schmuck could do it, but you get my meaning. Now the second thing I'm going to do to this bounty hunter is that I'm going to make him a Mandalorian. Yeah, yeah. Get it out of your system now and groan, I'll wait. Done? Good.**

 **The reason I'm going this route is because I can. That, and I sort of want a Mando wrecking shit up. Now all I've gotten left is to give this guy a Semblance and an eventual team. Well, the team is going to remain a mystery to you guys, but the Semblance is something that I can do now. The Force. Once more I'll wait for you to have your groan fest. Done? Good.**

 **Now in new canon that Star Wars has done the Force can awaken an anyone. Ezra Bridger wasn't the child of two Jedi, Rey (as far as we know at this specific point) didn't have parents that were Jedi, and we don't even know who Finn's parents are so it's safe to assume his parents weren't Jedi either. What's to say that it can't awaken in this guy too? There isn't anything saying that.**

 **Now the only thing left is to establish when in the Star Wars canon this will take place in. I was thinking post-Return of the Jedi as there's a lot of time in between RTJ and TFA. I'm thinking maybe 5 years after is when this guy is born. Still far enough away from the new canon and far away from making an impact on the Original Trilogy, it's a win-win. And without further ado, the disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my laptop and my copy of MS Word.** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney and** _ **RWBY**_ **belongs to Rooster Teeth. Only original characters and scenarios belong to me.**

 **Rating: T–M as there will be violence, albeit I don't know how bloody, and there might be an opportunity for sex or at least romantic, amorous activity being hinted at. To what degree, I do not know exactly.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

 **[ Suggested music ]**

XxXxXxX

"My son, we are part of a larger galaxy," a husky, age rattled man's voice said.

"Death is a natural part of life," an ethereal wise being said.

"We Mandalorians are warriors who welcome all and respect very few. Vode an, brothers all."

"No matter what happens, we will always love you," a female's voice said sadly.

"Show them that the old traditions, the code of the warrior, is worth defending."

A pair of blue eyes snapped open and looked around the small coffins like device he laid inside of. His breath fogged the transparisteel observation window in front of him. He was freezing cold, but the little cryogenic unit was quickly heating up. There was a hiss of released air as the door containing him inside opened and equalized the pressure from inside the pod and the outside room. Whatever breath he was holding turned into hacking up fluid from his lungs, causing him to collapse on the ground to his knees. Once he caught his second wind he took a deep breath and looked around.

The air smelled stale as if the life support system had gone offline. In front of him was a collapsed form of someone in Mandalorian armor and nearby that were a set of mostly intact bones with a woman's tattered clothing covering them. On the ground between them was a single scroll. The boy picked it up and turned it back on.

When it had finally powered on there was only one item on the home screen: a video file. Hesitantly, he tapped on it and the video player launched. When it loaded the still image of his father was on the screen. "Ordo," his father greeted, "if you are watching this then both I and your mother are dead and Mountain Glen has fallen." Ordo fell back onto the ground with this revelation, the scroll clattering on the rubber coated, slip-proof floor. "We placed you inside the Cryo pod that the Schnee Dust Company developed to get you safely through the fall while you were still asleep. As per traditions my armor and weapons are now yours, as is your mother's; may they serve you well as they served us for many years. If there is anything left of our bodies, burn them. There is money hidden in the safe, this scroll will give you access. May you one day forgive us for leaving you alone.

"I don't know how long you'll be inside suspended animation and what time you'll be released if fail safes have been activated like they should have or not. Your mother and I wish you happiness in life. Fall in love, have a few kids, do whatever makes you happy, and fight for something you believe in. Remember this: even though we are dead, so long as you remember us we will live forever. Goodbye."

The video stopped and went back to the home screen. A few tears escaped his eyes as he finally came to terms with his parents being dead.

He then picked up his father's intact, discarded helmet and placed it on his head.

XxXxXxX

 _Seven years later. Vale. Night._

A lone, armored figure crouched on the top of a fairly tall apartment building with his helmet's targeting rangefinder lowered. Inside his T-visored helmet, he saw the holographic display showing several figures walking towards a store called 'From Dust Till Dawn', all of them carrying weapons, swords to be precise. The rangefinder zoomed in on the thuggish looking ones. The back door that he had installed in the Vale criminal database revealed them to be in the employ of one Junior. He then had the rangefinder zoomed in on the one carrying a cane and smoking a cigar. He turned around for a split second allowing the rangefinder to take a snapshot and run it through the backdoor revealing the man's true target: one Roman Torchwick. A small display appeared on the right side of the rangefinder where it showed a mugshot from a few years ago for petty larceny and money laundering. Added were a set of new charges including armed robbery, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, loitering, and six unpaid parking tickets. There was a current bounty on him for five thousand Lien, alive; zero dead.

The man smirked and said, "Why hello there, Mr. Torchwick; I found you." He tapped the side of his helmet retracting the viewfinder returning his helmet to its iconic state. "It's not like you're trying to even lay low."

He then stood up and engaged his jetpack, flying to an appropriate vantage point to ambush them on the way out. After all, the thugs had swords and pistols, extremely effective at close ranges but unreliable if not ineffective against longer ranges; well, unless you were a marksman at long ranges with small caliber pistols. He stood on top of the nearest building to the door that left a visual on the store itself and waited.

He didn't need a rangefinder to see that they were robbing the place. Strangely they were going after Dust and not money. It wasn't unusual to steal commodities as Lien was primarily digital in terms of currency and was both regulated and monitored; something that he remembered his father criticizing once over dinner and how it should have been backed up with some kind of valuable commodity like gold, similarly how the Republic Credit was, according to his father in what he told him long ago. One of the thugs walked towards the back of the store and drew his sword before he was out of his line of sight. Less than thirty seconds later the same man came crashing back towards the window. This drew the attention of one of the other thugs and he too went to investigate. Seconds later that thug flew out of the window in a black and red blur.

When the dust settled a girl a few years younger than him stood up and a very elaborate scythe unfolded. The man only knew of one scythe wielder that was widely well known and that was currently on the other side of the Kingdom right now, so who was this?

The remaining thugs and Torchwick stepped out of the store and looked on to the girl. He considered dropping down and assisting the girl, primarily as it was a five on one fight.

He could hear Torchwick comment, "Ok..." He then looked to his thugs and commanded, "Get her."

The four thugs ran in with weapons drawn but to no avail as the girl took them down easily, using her scythe's secondary function as a rifle to propel her to dodge sprays of SMG rounds, slamming her scythe into the thugs knocking them all out.

The last thug landed in front of Roman and the armored man stepped off the ledge. "You were worth every cent, truly you were," Torchwick commented sarcastically. "Well red, I think we can both say that tonight has been an eventful evening," he said as he put out his cigar with his cane. "I would love to stick around and chat, but this is where we part ways," he said as he leveled his cane at the girl.

The armored man then engaged his jetpack and landed on his feet and drew a single pistol and leveled it at Torchwick's head. "Roman Torchwick," he said, his voice distorted making it sound much more menacing than it really was, "you're going to pay this month's rent."

"Ok... Who are you and why would I pay your rent?" he asked in confusion.

"I'm a bounty hunter, and the bounty on you covers my rent, hence you'll pay my rent. I would advise surrendering, you are worth nothing dead."

Without warning, Torchwick fired two Dust enhanced explosives towards both the girl and the hunter. The hunter dodged by engaging his jetpack to get out of the way and the girl leaped out of the way. Both the hunter and the girl looked around for the vanished criminal. The girl managed to spot Torchwick first and asked the shopkeeper, "You alright if I go after him?" The old man affirmed her question and she took off with impressive speed towards a ladder on the apartment building that the hunter had been on earlier.

The hunter engaged his jetpack once more and quickly landed on the rooftop of the apartment building at the same time that the girl launched herself up using her... sniper rifle? Scythe? Scythle? (1) He pulled out his TL-50 rifle and aimed the three-barreled rifle at Torchwick as 'Red' said, "Hey!"

"Persistent," Torchwick muttered.

"I sort of have to be to get paid," the hunter replied.

The hunter could feel that Torchwick was going to make some kind of remark but didn't as the sound of engines drowned out any sound as a Bullhead rose from behind the building. 'How the kriffing hell did I miss that?' the hunter asked.

After the Bullhead finished rising and the side-door opened allowing Torchwick to climb inside it. The hunter engaged his viewfinder once more and analyzed potential weak points in the Bullhead to paralyze it.

"End of the line!" Torchwick shouted over the engines right before tossing a red Dust crystal towards the two. The hunter dodged out of the way, feeling the immediate danger but the girl looked at the crystal and didn't notice Torchwick aiming his cane at the volatile crystal. The Dust crystal exploded in a wave of heat and fire as the cane's projectile connected with it. The hunter was certain that the girl was now dead, a shame really. Torchwick whooped and hollered at his kill.

When the dust cleared both the hunter and Torchwick were shocked to see a purple glyph that absorbed the explosion altogether. The rangefinder immediately identified her as Glynda Goodwitch, an instructor, and Huntress. 'Great, another person trying to weasel their way into my bounty,' the hunter thought.

She adjusted her glasses with an unimpressed humph. She then swung her riding crop and purple projectiles started to assault the Bullhead causing it to shake and lose control to an extent. Roman ran into the cockpit and a moment later the Bullhead regained control but the Huntress sent out another glyph, this time summoning a storm of razor-sharp ice shard to rain upon the Bullhead. A woman in red took Torchwick's place, strategic shadows hid her facial features, but the rangefinder still recorded them none-the-less for future reference. Her clothes glowed red right before she fired a bolt of pure fire at the Huntress, seeing her as the larger threat. Glynda summoned another glyph to protect herself.

What looked like molten metal dripped onto the ground and glowed right before a beam of pure energy flew up from the rooftop attempting to completely incinerate the Huntress. What happened next had the hunter impressed, the Huntress used the shards of asphalt rooftop and assembled them into a spear and flung it at the Bullhead. The Red Woman blasted it with more fire, but it reassembled itself and continued on its way. It hit the Bullhead taking off a significant amount of the armor plating on the roof of the vehicle. It then split up and assaulted the Bullhead on several fronts at once. The Red Woman then did something involving glyphs because a pulse wave of fire energy incinerated the asphalt into ashes, leaving nothing left for the Huntress to use as an improvised weapon.

The Bullhead turned to leave and the girl folded up her scythe and turned it into a rifle and started to fire on it. The hunter aimed his own triple-barreled rifle and started to unleashed a barrage of blaster bolts into the Bullhead, the high pitched whine creating a unique sound in the night. He watched on his HUD as the overheat meter reached the safety release and stopped firing right before charging up the secondary function and releasing a concussion blast that arced and hit one of the engines causing it to list slightly as the impact hit. The girl, on the other hand, aimed at the Woman to no avail as she blocked each of the rifle bullets. The hunter then switched from his overheated rifle to his WESTAR model pistol (2) and fired several shots towards the woman herself. She was shocked as one managed to make contact with her loose clothing flapping in the wake of the engines and burning a hole straight through it.

The Woman then summoned several circles of energy beneath all of them, causing the two to jump out of the way and the hunter to use his jetpack to launch himself backward to avoid the blasts. By the time they all recovered the door to the Bullhead had closed and it started to fly off. The hunter aimed his gauntlet armed with a tracking dart at the Bullhead, but the targeting lock was lost before he could fire it off. The hunter turned his viewfinder off with a disappointed sigh.

"You're a Huntress," Red announced to Glynda. There was an air of a pause right before the girl 'squeed' "Can I have your autograph?!"

The next thing the young bounty hunter knew he was in an interrogation room, his weapons and gauntlets confiscated, however, they did leave him with his armor. He sat in the one chair that the local authorities had set him down in and he knew that they were watching him. Around an hour passed before a man with gray hair walked in with a mug of hot chocolate in a mug, the smell was quite distinctive, and a smile that at least made him a non-immediate threat.

"Ordo Larr, you're quite an interesting puzzle," the man asked. Ordo only raised an eyebrow. "Oh, but where are my manners? I am Professor Ozpin, headmaster-."

"Of Beacon," Ordo finished.

Ozpin sat in the chair opposite him. "So you have heard of me then?"

"I know of all the major players around the globe. Schnee, Ironwood, you, and so on."

"You are quite knowledgeable for someone your age," Ozpin complemented. "The police confiscated many weapons from you."

"You have to be well armed when dealing with underworld scum and Grimm."

Ozpin then did something expected, he pulled out one of Ordo's WESTAR series blaster pistols from his coat. "This is an interesting weapon you have here. I can tell that it has been extensively modified from its original configuration." He turned it over, allowing it to sit in his hand, almost tempting Ordo to take it. "You, or someone well versed in weapons, figured out how to fuel the gun's projectiles with Dust in a gaseous state creating particle based bolts instead of bullets. I've only seen this type of weapon configuration before one other time, and that was almost thirty years ago. And you certainly aren't the person I knew that used these thirty years ago, but you do look like him."

"You knew my father?" Ordo asked in shock.

Ozpin hummed, "Oh yes. He was a great man. Honorable, had a sense of right and wrong, and a mean streak a mile wide, but his wife certainly kept that in check." He then straightened up and set the pistol on the table. "Although, I am curious. How is a teenager who should be almost forty-seven still a teenager? Have you found the Fountain of Youth?" Ozpin joked.

"Mother and father had a plan for me. In the case, Mountain Glenn fell I was to be placed into suspended animation while I slept. Seven years ago the power failsafe kicked in and I was released. I saw their bodies, or what was left of them. Father left a message to me on his scroll saying goodbye."

"I am sorry for your loss."

"Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la. Not gone, merely marching far away (3)," Ordo replied.

Ozpin chuckled, "I see you've learned the same language your father spoke."

"It is my heritage, I am honored to learn and speak it."

"I'm certain that he would be pleased about that. Your mother, though, I'm not entirely certain," he mused. "But certainly you didn't think I would be speaking with you just to find out your darkest secrets. I wish to recruit you."

"For?"

"Beacon, to become a Huntsman."

"And why would I do that?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "Your little bounty hunting business is going well then?"

"It pays the bills," Ordo admitted. That was a slight lie as he was losing more money each month with rising costs of having to resupply after each successful 'hunt' which usually involved deadbeats not paying their debts or small time criminals. The warrior inside him craved something more worthy of his skills, but the experience that he had officially was almost nil and therefore wasn't able to get his hands on more lucrative bounties that paid more.

"Oh? Wouldn't you like something that really challenged your skillset? Something that, in the end, helps people?" Ordo didn't say anything but Ozpin slid forward a closed envelope towards Ordo and placed it under his pistol. "Why don't you take the night to sleep on it? The airship leaving for Beacon leaves at 8 am sharp. Or you could just fly there on your jetpack." Ozpin then stood up and added, "You can pick up your weapons on the way out, the officers have been told to do so."

Ozpin left the room leaving the door open behind him. Ordo stood up himself and took his pistol and holstered it in one of his empty thigh holsters. He then took a second glance at the white envelope and took a step towards the door before stopping. He didn't know why, but he walked back into the room and grabbed the envelope.

XxXxXxX

 _Airship en route to Beacon Academy. 8:30 am._

Ordo leaned against one of the walls of the airship checking over one of his gauntlets and the weapons on it as he observed the potential students around him. There was the Red girl from the other day standing next to a blonde bombshell, their body language suggested that they were very familiar with each other; either extended family, very good friends, or lovers. There was one boy that looked absolutely airsick and was stumbling around like a drunken monkey, thankfully there wasn't any monkey Faunus to take offense at that. Ordo made sure to make a note to stay away from him until they landed as he didn't want to clean vomit off of his armor. There was a girl with a black bow sitting rather distantly from everyone else, suggesting potential antisocial behaviors. He couldn't see anyone else of note other than a hyperactive redhead girl next to a very stoic and quiet raven haired boy in green. Wait, change that. There was ONE person of note that he caught a glimpse of Pyrrha Nikos, three-time champion. (4)

As Ordo fiddled with his gauntlet the image that was on the glass changed from a crystal clear glass pane with a local news report on Torchwick's attempted robbery to Glenda Goodwitch. He didn't really pay any real attention to the recorded message that he was sure all Beacon students got as they were flown in. He finished recalibration the wrist mounted rocket launcher to release its payload more cleanly, a timing issue that he had fixed several times in the past, right as the message ended and the image faded allowing the students to look on to the school; and Ordo had to say, it was quite the impressive structure. It was certainly a bastion of hope in a world of darkness and uncertainty. Literally, as well as it looked a bit like a lighthouse beacon.

There was a retching sound as the young man that had been wandering around woozily vomited on the shoes of the bombshell, pissing off the girl. Ordo chuckled as he managed to avoid that situation. The airship docked soon after and the students began to disembark from the craft. Ordo made sure he was one of the last off to avoid stares especially since his… ensemble was different than what other students and Huntsmen used.

When only a small handful remained he picked up the hard case that held much of his maintenance equipment and picked up a rucksack that contained spare clothing and swung that over his shoulder. Ordo walked towards the school and was surprised when there was a small explosion of fire near the Red girl and the Schnee heiress. Wicke? White? Weiss? Weiss, that was it. She went off on the younger girl. Oh yes, because she sneezed on her causing the explosion in the first place because of poor container practice. Ordo rolled his eyes at that, he had worked with Baradium before and that stuff was beyond volatile in which you could be vaporized before you noticed your mistake (5).

The girl with a bow then gave exposition that he already knew; such as the questionable labor force and business practices and partners that the Schnee Dust Company has had over the years. Weiss looked offended, well rightfully so at least in the terms of pride as that was her family's company; Ordo never thought she was right, though. Both bow-girl and Weiss walked away leaving a self-defeated Red on the ground. For whatever reason Ordo had a gut feeling to go over and help her up. It appeared that he wasn't the only one thinking that because another student dressed in white armor that had only a sword had the same idea as him.

"Hey," he greeted her, and Ordo by extension, "I'm Jaune."

"Ruby," she replied as she grabbed both of their hands as was lifted back to her feet. Seeing who Jaune was she laughed before remarking, "Aren't you the guy the threw up on the ship?"

"Yeah..."

"And I never caught your-," she said as she turned towards Ordo. "You're the guy from the other night!"

"I am Ordo Larr," Ordo greeted.

"You're a walking armory!" Jaune remarked as he looked at each of the weapons that Ordo had strapped to him; pistols, gauntlets containing dart launchers, wrist-mounted rocket launchers, flamethrowers, a carbonite thrower, and various other lethal concealed weapons. He also spotted the sole sword on his back which sat behind his jetpack.

"They are the tools of my trade," Ordo shrugged off.

They began to walk as Ruby changed the subject to Jaune getting motion sick and calling him 'vomit boy'. "All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much bigger problem than people let on," Jaune defended himself.

"I'm sorry, but vomit boy was the first thing that came to mind," Ruby apologized.

"Oh yeah, well what if I called you crater face?" Jaune shot back.

"Hey! That explosion was an accident!"

"In all fairness, it wasn't your fault," Ordo added as they approached a pond on the side of the school. "Ms. Schnee had horrible practices in the storage of a volatile substance."

"And you would have done better?"

"I would have used an airtight container that couldn't let air in or out leaving for a better shelf-life as well as preventing Dust from leaking out causing a potential disaster."

"Well, the name Jaune Arc," Jaune properly introduced himself, "it's short, sweet and rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it."

'Oh yeah, keep thinking that,' Ordo thought.

"Do they?" Ruby asked.

"They will," Jaune defended. "Well, I hope they will. I think my mom always says that- eh, nevermind."

Ruby laughed uncomfortably as she looked for a way to change the subject. She spotted one of the pistols in Ordo's holster and said, "Well, I've got this thing." She then pulled out and unfolded her scythe.

"Woah!" Jaune reeled in shock. "Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle," she added.

"What?"

"It's also a gun."

"Oh. That's cool."

"So what do you got?"

"Oh! Uh..." He fumbled as he unsheathed his sword. It was nothing special in design as it was your standard, double-bladed sword more than likely made of a Dust conductive metal. "I got this sword."

"Ooo," Ruby cooed.

"Yeah, I got this shield too."

"So... what do they do?" Ruby asked in reference to the transforming nature that most weapons had in transitioning from a firearm of some sort to a melee weapon.

Jaune then proceeded to fumble with his shield in a bumbling idiot-like fashion before managing to finally get a hold on it. "The shield gets smaller so when I get tired of carrying it I can just... put it away."

"But, wouldn't it weigh the same?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, it does," Jaune replied defeatedly.

"Well, I am a bit of a dork with weapons and I guess I went a little overboard in designing it," Ruby admitted.

"Wait," Jaune said in shock, "you made that?"

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons."

"It is quite the impressive weapon," Ordo complimented. "Although the only change in style I would make is keeping a sidearm or a knife on your person, just in case."

"Thanks for the suggestion," Ruby replied. She then turned her attention to Jaune once more. "Didn't you make yours?"

"It's a hand-me-down," Jaune replied. "My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Sounds like a family heirloom to me," Ruby joked. "Well, I like it. Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah... the classics."

"Don't feel too bad about it. My armor and weapons once belonged to my father," Ordo said.

"Your father made those?" Ruby asked.

"Not entirely. He modified them. Made them suit his needs. The only thing he really forged was the armor that I am now wearing with his father."

"You speak of him in the past-tense. What happened to him?" Jaune asked.

"He died," Ordo replied with no sadness, only fact. "Alongside my mother years ago."

Both of the two teens looked shocked and sad to hear that. "I'm sorry to hear that, it must have been rough growing up," Ruby apologized.

"It's no issue, I've come to terms with it. My father's people have a saying: 'Not gone, merely marching far away'."

"So tell us a bit about your weapons. Your armor is also very cool looking."

Ordo set down his hard case and rucksack. "I primarily use dual WESTAR model pistols in tandem with a sword." Ordo then drew his beskad. It was a simple enough looking blade with a single edge and a hilt that had an angled cross guard. "My gauntlets also include multiple weapons including poison dart launchers, flamethrowers, and wrist-mounted missile launchers and a few other surprises as well. I can also use several types of rifles in tandem with my jetpack."

"That's a jetpack!?" Jaune exclaimed.

"It is. It opens many opportunities for battle strategies. Not everyone you face will expect a flying enemy that can assault you from another angle quickly."

"Why use a sword and a pistol? Do they transform?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"They do not transform as I do not need them to. The less moving parts there are, the less likely you are to have a catastrophic malfunction." Ruby looked a little disappointed while Jaune looked a little happier in seeing another student using older weapon methods. "As to why this specific combination. Jaune would you be willing to assist me with a demonstration?"

"Uhh... what would you need me to do?" Jaune asked in confusion.

"Draw your sword and act as if you're going to slice me in half."

"Ok?" Jaune replied uncertainly.

Jaune drew his sword and swung slowly from his right to left. Ordo caught his sword with his own beskad and drew his pistol and placed it under Jaune's chin. "Dead," Ordo declared. He then sheathed his beskad and his pistol. "By parrying his attack and following it up immediately with my separate pistol makes using two separate weapons much more logical for my fighting style."

"I see..." Ruby replied in deep thought. Part of her thought that she had taken the wrong fighting style.

"Before you start thinking that you chose the wrong style of fighting or the wrong weapon, there is no such thing. Each person is built differently and their brain works differently in how they fight. Men have more muscle mass in their upper body, therefore, will have more brute force making my fighting style more valid for someone like me whereas someone like you who has a more petite frame and body, while also the female body type, makes more sense to have a more agile fighting style. In short, if it works for you, it works for you. Don't change what isn't broken, just be aware that there are other styles."

"That makes sense," Ruby admitted while reassured that she had made the right choice for herself. She then turned her attention to Jaune, "So why'd you two help me out back there in the courtyard?"

"Eh, why not? My mom says that strangers are friends you haven't met yet," Jaune replied.

Ordo shrugged, "My gut told me it was the right thing to do."

"Your gut?" Ruby asked.

"It's never been wrong before."

"So what's it telling you about us?" Ruby asked once more.

Ordo looked at both of them closely. "That you are the kind of person that would stand by your friends until the very end. That you're a capable fighter that still has much to learn, but would learn from experiences to better yourself. As for him? He's inexperienced but has a fighting spirit and wit. Same as you, he'd be willing to stick by his friends to the very end."

"You think I'm funny?" Jaune asked

"I said wit, not funny," Ordo clarified. "There's a difference."

"Hey, where are we going?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know, I was following you guys," Jaune admitted.

"We're in one of the courtyards on the west end of the campus," Ordo replied.

"How do you know?"

"I downloaded the map before we left the airship and I have it displayed on my HUD."

"Oh."

"So where do we need to be again?" Ruby asked innocently.

"The auditorium. Follow me," Ordo replied as he grabbed his things; the three-person group ran towards the auditorium in a haste as the ceremony was about to start.

XxXxXxX

It didn't take long for the trio to reach the auditorium with Ordo's help. As Ordo entered he removed his helmet and held it under his arm allowing both Jaune and Ruby to see his jet black hair and blue eyes. They walked through the doors themselves and almost immediately the bombshell from earlier called out to Ruby, "Ruby over here! I saved you a spot!"

"You know her?" Ordo asked.

"She's my sister," Ruby replied proudly. "I'll see you guys later," she waved as she left to join her sister.

'They must be step-siblings and share one parent because I barely see a resemblance,' Ordo thought with a shrug.

"Hey, wait!" Jaune shouted. "Oh, great. Where else am I to find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?" He asked as he walked away towards... somewhere, to which Ordo only raised an eyebrow.

Ordo found himself next to a group of students that were chatting amongst themselves. They noticed him but didn't actively speak to or address him in any way. Which to him was fine as he was sure that a speech was about to commence. He was right as there was feedback from a microphone.

"I'll keep this short," Ozpin said from the stage as he adjusted his glasses. "You have traveled here today in the search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." A few of the students looked inspired at those words. "But I look among you and I all see is wasted energy." Well, that took a turn. "In need of purpose. Direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

And with that Ozpin left the stage and all Ordo could really think was, 'That was odd.' That sentiment was certainly echoed as there was dead silence in the crowd.

Glenda then approached the microphone next and continued where Ozpin left off. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready," she advised. "You're dismissed."

The next few hours went by quickly as Ordo put his armor and weapons, except his tri-bladed knife he kept in his boot, in a secure locker that used biometrics to prevent equipment tampering as the potential for death tomorrow was high even with teachers looking on from the shadows both examining and leaping into action if a student struggled; they were then subsequently expelled but they were alive. Ordo did one last check on all of his weapons and equipment to ensure they were up to his standards of perfection, cleaning his pistols and rifle just to be sure as well.

By the time he was done he was the only person left in the locker room for new students. He removed each piece of armor with a kind of reverence that one would have with some kind of 'holy relic' in a religion and stripped out of the flight suit under his armor and changed into nightwear consisting of an old t-shirt and sweatpants that he had purchased a few months ago. After seeing that his equipment was secure in the locker near the middle of the locker room he left for the ballroom that the new students were all bunking in for the night.

As he walked in he already observed that there were sleeping bags arranged in a grid pattern with no distinction of who was to sleep where probably for those who wanted to sleep next to friends could and those who wanted to make new friends were also able to as well. Ordo walked near a window that had a balcony and walked out on it. Something pulled his attention towards the forest that they were going to be taking their initiation test tomorrow.

 **[ John Williams – Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Padme's Ruminations. 0:00 – 1:36** (6) **]**

Ordo stared out, standing completely still at the forest in the distance. There was something... off about it. Like it was calling to him. But why? He felt a presence in his mind that just said 'come find me.' It was strange, yet he had felt like he had heard it once before many years ago. The forest itself felt like a dark place, but there was something else out there. Something-.

"Hey," a voice said from behind him. "Are you alright?"

Ordo turned to see one Pyrrha Nikos standing just an arm's breadth away about to shake his shoulder. "I'm fine," Ordo replied in an attempt to alleviate her concern for him.

She looked unconvinced as she crossed her arms. "Are you sure? You were sort of standing there are creepy-like staring out into the forest for quite a while," she commented.

Ordo waved her off. "I'm sure, I just... had something on my mind."

"If you're sure you're ok..." she trailed. She then stuck out her hand, "I'm Pyrrha."

"Ordo."

"That's an interesting name."

"My father wanted me to be named after one of the strongest Mand'alor in history, Canderous Ordo who was also known by the moniker Mand'alor the Preserver."

"The Preserver? What did he preserve?"

As they started to walk back inside the ballroom where a small catfight between Ruby and her sister was just winding down. "Allow me to tell you the tale of Canderous Ordo, friend and ally of Revan, and organizer of the Mandalorians once more to become one of the most powerful warrior races to exist in history."

XxXxXxX

That previous night Ordo had made a new friend in Pyrrah, even if the likelihood of them being on the same team was slim to none, it was still worth getting valuable allies and friends on your side. He woke up early the next morning going through his normal routine that he had started each morning for the last seven years. The first of which was activating a small holoprojector that he had hanging on a chain around his neck in a solitary place and reciting, "Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum" followed by his parents' names (7).

Once he had done that he ate breakfast in the main hall where it was oddly empty except for the new Beacon students, probably because the exam would be starting well before the students already enrolled would arrive to eat as well. He then made his way down to the locker room where he started putting on his armor starting with the flight suit and ending with each piece of beskar plate. He armed himself and checked the power packs and Dust 'gas' that his father originally developed to replace Tibanna that was not on this world and holstered his pistols in their thigh holsters. His beskad was sheathed behind his jetpack after checking the charge in the ultrasonic vibration generator was full. His jetpack was next after loading a single Baradium tipped missile into it. Finally were his gauntlets which ended with a line connected to his jetpack for his flamethrower and arming his wrist rockets, also Baradium tipped, though at a much smaller yield. Once he was satisfied with his weapons he placed his helmet on and grabbed the heavy blaster rifle leaning against the locker and carried it at parade rest.

As Ordo finished closing his locker door there was an announcement over the speakers, "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon cliff for initiation. Again, first-year students report to Beacon cliff immediately."

He walked towards the exit and was treated with the sight of Jaune stuck to a wall with a spear that just so happened to belong to Pyrrha. "Sorry!" she genuinely apologized to Jaune as her spear leaped from the wall into her hand. "It was nice meeting you."

'Interesting,' Ordo thought.

Ruby and her sister walked over to Jaune and Ruby's sister asked, "Having some trouble there, Lady Killer?"

As Ruby helped him up and he replied, "I don't get it. My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

"Snow angel probably wasn't the best start."

"She's not wrong," Ordo commented as he started to walk past them. "There's a fine line between confidence and being cocky. You were being the latter."

"Come on, Jaune, let's get going," Ruby said as she helped Jaune along.

It was quite a long walk to the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest, the watched training ground that Beacon kept the Grimm inside at a manageable level for new students to go inside of and not die immediately like they probably would in places outside the walls of Vale. It was at least a full mile at least to the cliff edge. When they had all arrived they were told to stand on platforms that had the Beacon logo of two crossed axes in front of a wreath while Ozpin and Goodwitch waited for them all to arrive.

Ozpin then began his speech, "For years you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"I'm sure you've heard rumors about the assignment of teams," Goodwitch jumped in. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today." Ruby groaned.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interests to be paired with someone with whom you can work well with. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What!?" Ruby shouted as it felt like her whole world was just shattered. Ordo could have sworn he could have heard glass shattering.

"See? I told you!" another student said to her friend.

"Once you have partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You WILL meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy anything in your path, or you will die," Ozpin continued. Next, to Ordo, Jaune only gulped. "You will be monitored and graded during your duration of your initiation but our instructors will not intervene."

'Read: unless you're about to die, you're on your own,' Ordo gained from that last statement.

"You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and will grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, um, sir?" Jaune asked.

"Good. Now, take your positions." On his command, each student, except Jaune, took a stance that one would be comfortable being launched with.

"Um, sir? I've got a question." A few students were already starting to be launched into the forest. "So this landing strategy thing, what is it? Are you going to be dropping us off or something?"

"No, you will be falling."

"Oh, I see." More students were launched. "Did you hand out parachutes for us?"

Yet more students were launched. "No, you will be using your own landing strategy."

"Ah. So what exactly is a landing strateGYYYY?!" Jaune trailed as he was flung unexpectedly.

"Di'kut (8)," Ordo shook his head before he was launched as well with the rest of the students. Right as Ordo passed Ozpin he caught a glance of him drinking from his mug as if there was nothing wrong with the world.

To Ordo, flying was a kind of liberating experience that few had the pleasure of experiencing. The absolute freedom that it gave the flyer was something that couldn't be entirely described because it was different for everyone that did experience it. Where it was freedom to Ordo, it was absolute terror to Jaune who had been flung without seeing it coming was complete terror. Ordo angled his body towards the temple and activated his jetpack and hovered in the air to get his bearings before deactivating the pack, dropping like a sack of stones. When he was about to hit the ground he activated it once more and landed with a small impact that he didn't even feel.

Ordo activated his sensory equipment which included a motion tracker that would mark anything larger than a human teenager, as that was whom he expected to come across, to be marked as a red dot with a size corresponding to its real life equivalent. He raised his heavy blaster and kept it aimed in front of him.

He kept walking and kept his head on a swivel. A few minutes after starting his journey he heard bushes rustling and checked his sensors to see that it was the size of a Beowulf. He aimed at the bushes and waited for whatever was inside to emerge. It didn't take long before a Beowulf sprang out of the brush and charged him. He unleashed a storm of bolts into the Grimm which all found a home in the Grimm's face. The Dust bolts punched through the bone mask and punched through whatever counted as the Grimm's brain, no one knew what was inside them as they tended to disintegrate after death.

Ordo looked at his HUD which told him he had around four hundred and seventy-five more bolts before the Dust had to be reloaded and another seventy-five before the power cell had to be. Once more he pushed on for a while. He heard gunfire and approached quickly as it was the sound of one weapon, not two, meaning another single student.

He entered a clearing where a female classmate was fighting two Ursa on her own. She wielded a katana that was bulkier on the blade and hilt as to accommodate the weapon's secondary function. She wore what he wouldn't consider to expect to be armor as it appeared to be only jeans and a shirt that she wore. She had brown hair, but Ordo managed to catch something as she dodged a swipe from one of the Ursa: wolf ears. She must've activated her Semblance as she channeled lightning into her sword and cleaved one Ursa in half vertically. The other Ursa was going to swipe at her with its oversized claw ridden paw, but it didn't get the chance as Ordo drew his beskad and activated his jetpack to cross the clearing in a split second and activated the ultrasonic generator right before he sliced the head of the Ursa off.

"I didn't need any help," she growled.

Ordo kicked the Grimm's body as if it was going to come back to life. "Just helping out a fellow student I came across along the way. Plus, out here you need someone to watch your back," Ordo replied. "As we have met eyes it now seems as though we're partners now." He stuck out his hand in a friendly handshake gesture, "Ordo."

She took a moment to look at his hand before replying, "Rose," without taking his hand in turn. "And what is that high pitched tone?"

Ordo sheathed his beskad, "My apologies, the ultrasonic vibration generator tends to make faunus that have high levels of hearing... uncomfortable."

"What?"

"We should probably move on before more Grimm get here," Ordo changed the subject.

They started to walk at a brisk pace towards the forest temple leaving the now disintegrating corpses of the two Ursa behind. They got a good quarter mile before Rose asked, "So what's with all the weapons? Have enough?"

"I have a feeling by the end of today I'll have used all of them," Ordo replied cryptically.

"Ok... that's not foreboding at all."

The rest of the trip through the forest to the temple was uneventful as only a few low leveled Grimm that both partners managed to dispatch with little issue. Before they knew it they were at the temple. There were only two sets of pieces missing, the king had already been taken.

"How about the queen?" Ordo suggested.

"I guess," Rose replied as she took one of the two queens that remained.

As Ordo reached for the piece he froze in place right as his fingers touched it. There was... something that was calling out to him once more. It was the same calling that he felt the other night on the balcony. He quickly pocketed the queen and walked over to the center of the temple and just stared at it.

"Hey, are you al-?" Rose trailed as Ordo drew his beskad once more and stabbed it into the center of the circle of the center of the temple and twisted it in a combination-like pattern. After he did, the temple rumbled as what looked like a spiral staircase lowered around the center leaving the pedestals that the rest of the pieces sat on top of intact. "Ordo! What the hell?!" However, Ordo wasn't listening; to Rose, it was though he was in a trance. Sword in hand he started to descend into the temple itself. "Where are you going?!" she shouted in vain. Taking a short moment to decide her next move she said, "Damn it!" before following him into the void.

Down the two went into the abyss. Rose had no idea where Ordo was going, after all, once they got their artifacts they were supposed to head back towards the cliff. She looked up to see that they had gone down and that the light above was the size of a coin. Strange torches lit up as they approached them but went out well after they had passed them. After many minutes of defending stairs, they entered a hallway that ended in a solid metal door. Ordo stood in front of it, still as if he was in a trance.

Rose grabbed his shoulder. "Listen, we've been down here long enough and it's a dead end. Let's jet get the hell out of here," she pleaded as she wasn't the biggest fan of being underground.

Ordo said nothing but raised a splayed hand towards the door. Rose felt… something as he did whatever he was doing. It was hard to describe. Rose was about to chastise her teammate once more but before she could there was what sounded like a lock being undone that came from the metal wall. Before she could process exactly what it was, the metal door split in half vertically and opened with a hiss.

"What the-?" she questioned but Ordo went on through the winding, unnatural corridors of this… structure, for the lack of a better term. After several corridors later they found themselves in a medium sized room with only a single pedestal with a blue cube on it with what looked like a silver tube alongside it. Ordo raised his hand once more and the cube flew towards him but stopped right before contacting his hand, hovering in the air.

The cube seemed to glow with an inner light that shouldn't have been possible given the fact that there were no seen wiring or circuits. There was a small, almost inaudible click as the corners of the cube twisted and floated outward a good three to four inches away from the center of the cube. "What is that?" Rose asked in bewilderment.

"What's what?" Ordo asked in confusion as he started to come back to reality. He looked in front of him and exclaimed, "What the hell? What the kriff is going on?"

"How should I know?!" Rose exclaimed in return. "You're the one that decided to open a mysterious spiral staircase in the temple and a metal door at the end of it!"

"I didn't do that!"

"Yes, you did! Then you led me on a wild goose chase through this… place! Then you held out your hand like you're still doing and that blue floaty cube flew over to you and is now doing that!" Rose explained.

Ordo looked to her, then to the cube, then back to her once more. "It's impossible, I didn't do it."

"IMPOSSIBLE!?" she shouted. "I just saw you do it so it's safe to say that it's not impossible!"

"I mean it's impossible because the only people who can open these things are a bunch of warrior-monks called the Jedi. The only way to open these things is to be one." Ordo looked back to the cube. "I think the question we should be asking, is why I was drawn here?"

"I believe I can answer that," an ethereal voice said, both students could tell it was coming from the cube. On the top of the cube, a man in a robe appeared in a blue-hued hologram. "Greetings."

"Who are you?" Ordo asked.

"I was once known by many names during my life such as the Commander and the Outlander. I am the gatekeeper of my own Holocron."

"Holocron?" a confused Rose asked.

"Repositories of knowledge, philosophy, or whatever the creator wished to impart on future viewers and students."

"I don't get it, I'm not a Jedi and it opened for me," Ordo asked.

The gatekeeper turned to look at Ordo. "It's been a long time since I felt a presence in the Force as strong as yours on this planet. The last time someone was able to access my Holocron was when I trained those four sisters, but that was a long, long time ago," he reminisced. "For whatever reason, the Force called out to you."

"And why in the Seven Corellian Hells would it do that?"

"There must be a great disturbance that would require the use of this Holocron."

"What do you mean by 'disturbance'?" Rose asked.

"Significant calamity caused by events more than likely already set in motion. As for what they are, I could not tell you as I am only the imprint of the memory of the man I once was; I have no connection to the Force to even hint at what it may be," the gatekeeper replied.

"Why me, though?" Ordo asked.

"I know not. The Force works in mysterious ways and none know truly why it does the things it does. All I know is there is much potential in you, young Mandalorian."

"Why would you say that?"

"I intentionally designed a test into my Holocron which only allows those with a strong enough Force potential to open it."

Ordo was still skeptical. "And how would I be strong in the Force?"

"Haven't you ever felt something was watching you, but wished you no harm? A time when you listened to some little voice in the back of your head to do something that you may not have done normally? A time where you saw things before they happened? Had dreams so realistic you could have been there?"

"There have been times when I've had strong gut feelings before, like when I befriended that Ruby girl," Ordo replied.

"The Force led you to interact with this girl. She perhaps plays a greater role in things to come than she realizes. Anything else?"

"There have been times when I've dodged attacks that should have either killed or injured me greatly, but something in the back of my head told me to move one way or the other."

The gatekeeper stroked his beard. "Battle precognition, a very valuable skill beneficial to any Force-sensitive, Jedi or not. When honed can assist in keeping yourself ahead of your opponents three or moves ahead." The ground rumbled as what sounded like gunshots rang out from above ground. "It seems as though time is running short. Take my lightsaber and Holocron with you." Ordo nodded in affirmation. "Good. May my weapon serve you well, young Mandalorian. Trust in the Force and let it guide you. May the Force be with you. Always." The hologram disappeared and the Holocron's corners triangular corners came back and attached themselves back to the main part of the device, but instead of going back to the way it was, the corners were twisted slightly. Ordo placed the Holocron in a bag attached to his jetpack and walked towards the lightsaber still on the pedestal.

"That was… something," Rose admitted, unsure of exactly what she saw.

Ordo picked up the saber and turned it on, the piercing blue blade activating with a snap-hiss. "Would you look at that, almost three thousand years later and it still works," Ordo commented right before deactivating it.

"Three thousand-?" Rose asked before getting cut off.

"Helping classmates now, story time later," Ordo replied as he clipped the lightsaber to his belt. She gave him a look of 'you're not getting out of this' before nodding in agreement.

They climbed the stairs as fast as they could and reached the top of the staircases, and the main area of the temple, in time to see Ruby attempt to attack a Deathstalker, a fairly large Deathstalker, and get knocked back by the massively oversized pincers.

"Don't worry, I'm totally fine," Ruby yelled from across the field. It was then she noticed her mistake as she turned to face the Deathstalker. She fired a round from her rifle at the Grimm, which did nothing but agitate it more, and started to run in the opposite direction with the Deathstalker closely behind her. A massive Nevermore that had been circling above them had moved into a position to attack and let loose a barrage of feathers that slammed into the ground, pinning Ruby's cape into the ground, keeping her from running any further. Yang, who had been running in the opposite direction to her sister, had been cut off as Nevermore feathers impacted in front of her.

The Deathstalker prepared to strike, everyone assumed that this was the end of young Ruby, but something happened that even Ordo didn't see coming. Weiss Schnee ran forward, with the assistance of her glyphs, and summoned an ice wall just in time to stop the Deathstalker's stinger from reaching Ruby at all. In other words, it was frozen in place.

"You are so childish!" Weiss said.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked in confusion, and rightfully so.

"And dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don't get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose that I can be a bit... difficult, but if we are going to do this we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."

"I'm not showing off, I'm trying to show you I can do this."

"You're fine," Weiss replied as she walked off.

Ruby looked at the currently stuck Deathstalker. Yang ran over and hugged her sister and said, "I'm so glad you're ok."

Ordo used his jetpack to close the distance quickly from the temple to where Ruby and Yang were. "I'd hate to break up this family reunion, but we should probably get far away from the oversized killer bug first," Ordo said with his rifle readied and aimed towards the Deathstalker. They nodded and quickly moved towards the rest of the group with Ordo right behind them.

As they got back Jaune declared, "Guys, that thing's circling back. What are we going to do?"

"Look, there's no need to dilly dally. The objective is right in front of us," Weiss replied.

"She's right, our objective is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things," Ruby added.

"Unless you want bragging rights," Ordo quipped. That got him a look. "What?"

"Run and live, that is an idea I can get behind," said Jaune.

"Then I recommend you move quickly, that ice won't hold forever."

The remaining students who didn't already grab an artifact ran and grabbed one themselves. Once they got back and stashed their own artifacts the ice keeping the Deathstalker in place started to crack. "Time to go," Ren stated the obvious.

The students ran through the forest as the Nevermore flew overhead, Ordo knew that it was waiting for them to reemerge from the forest for a clear shot. They came across the ruins of a tower that was connected on three sides in the middle of a chasm. And would you look at that? The Nevermore decided to take up a perch right on the tower.

"Well that's great," Yang stated, speaking for everyone.

Ordo picked it up before it happened, but not a moment later the Deathstalker that Weiss had frozen in place crashed through the forest and looked like it wanted Beacon students on the menu.

"Oh man, run!" Jaune shouted.

Everyone ran towards the tower ruin and Ren commanded, "Nora distract it!"

Nora ran out of cover and dodged Nevermore feathers, some of them barely missing her, and used her weapon to fire grenades at the Nevermore, the explosive causing it to reel back and fly off. The Deathstalker attempted to kill her from behind, but Ren and Blake attacked it while Weiss pulled Nora away.

Ordo engaged his jetpack and his holographic rangefinder and fired several bursts from his rifle at the Deathstalker, charring the white mask and making potholes in other places. 'This was definitely one strong Grimm,' Ordo thought. He kept his distance while still keeping an eye on his sensors for the Nevermore that was still flying around. Ordo maneuvered out of the way as the Nevermore tried to take out the bridge that the students were crossing, dividing the students into two groups.

Seeing as the group had it mostly under control, 'mostly' being a subjective term, Ordo saw another ping on his sensors, on one of the two remaining bridges leading out of the ruin there were numerous Beowolves and Ursa crossing it. "Rose! Incoming!" Ordo shouted while pointing towards the incoming Grimm.

She looked at him and asked, "Give me a lift?"

Ordo swooped down and picked her up before flying her over to the other bridge. Ordo dropped her near the center of the tower on the bridge and flew up high up enough to get and angle on the bridge and approaching Grimm and fired two wrist rockets at the group. They impacted the bridge causing two larger than expected explosions that threw multiple Beowolves off the side of the bridge while also causing it lose a large chunk of the bridge causing Grimm that had intended to cross it to be stuck on the other side similarly to how Ordo and Rose's fellow students had been.

Ordo lifted his rifle and flanked the group while spraying bolts into the Grimm horde that had still made it across. He charged up the secondary function and fired the concussion blast into a group of them sending them flying off the edge as well. Seeing as time was of the essence Ordo put his rifle away and drew his dual WESTAR pistols and began to fire into the crowd near the back while Rose took care of those that got close to the center of the ruins, cutting them down with relative ease.

What seemed to be a larger and much more feral Ursa jumped the gap with ease and started to charge through its fellow Grimm which knocked them off the edge. Ordo landed on the tower and braced himself as he locked onto the Ursa and launched the missile loaded into his jetpack.

"Clear the blast zone!" Ordo shouted to Rose.

The missile hit the Ursa dead center and detonated. Rose jumped back just in time to avoid getting caught in the blast which vaporized everything in a fifty-meter radius which included not only the Ursa but a dozen Beowolves as well.

"What the hell was that thing made of!?" Rose shouted at Ordo.

"Later!" he replied as he landed next to her. "There's still a lot more Grimm where that came from!"

Ordo and Rose both heard the screeching of the Nevermore as it managed to not get hit by the combined firepower from Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake. It then slammed into the tower's lower section causing it to collapse and for the four to make their way back to solid ruins before they plummeted to their deaths.

In the time that Ordo and Rose looked away to see that spectacle, the many Beowolves had made their way closer to them. Without thinking Ordo immediately activated his flamethrower and launched a stream of fire Dust enhanced flames towards the approaching Grimm which stuck to them causing them to burn to death thanks to the formula that his father had developed long ago.

Ordo drew his beskad and newly acquired lightsaber and began to cut his way through the Grimm, feeling the adrenaline rush as his heart pounded in borderline glee as his enemies, the Grimm, were cut down one by one letting out laughter that bordered on maniacal. Rose joined him with her own sword drawn as she too cut down many Beowolves, using her Semblance to freeze many in place as one would do to a human or faunus with a taser.

'Let the Force guide your actions,' Ordo heard in the back of his head.

Ordo then did something he had never done before: he extended one arm, the one that held the lightsaber, and unleashed a telekinetic blast that launched forward with the impact of a cannonball which launched dozens of Beowolves off the side of the bridge leaving a clear bridge with only Grimm corpses remaining.

"What was that?" Rose asked in confusion.

Ordo could only look at this hand which held the lightsaber in confusion as well. "I have no idea," he admitted in shock.

There were explosions in the distance, Ordo and Rose turned to see the Deathstalker that had been chasing them not too long ago falling off the cliff, its stinger stuck in its head. Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, and Jaune all looked winded but alive.

More gunshots went off and Yang had been firing at the Nevermore, she managed a lucky hit and did something that Ordo considered ballsy: she jumped into its beak and fired several more times directly into its gullet. She then jumped off as the Nevermore flew into the cliffside unceremoniously. Weiss switched up with Yang charging the Nevermore and created an ice wall that trapped the tail feathers in ice keeping it from moving. Ordo could already see that there was a plan in action. Blake fired her weapon over to Yang who had been hanging on to a pillar opposite her and strung the ribbon between them. Ruby launched herself at the ribbon and Weiss used her glyphs to hold Ruby in place, and to create tension on the line.

They said something to each other that he couldn't quite catch even with his rangefinder. Weiss then released her glyphs and Ruby fired her scythe propelling her towards the Nevermore. The crook of the scythe caught the Nevermore and pinned it to the cliffside. Weiss sent more glyphs Ruby's way and placed them on the cliffside allowing Ruby to run up them. She then ran up the cliff, using her sniper's bullets to rocket herself AND the Nevermore up the cliffside. She reached the top and rounded on the Nevermore and decapitated it in an impressive feat of strength.

Ruby then walked to the edge of the cliff and everyone was silent in an impressed silence before Ordo yelled while laughing, "Jate tengaanar! Good show! (9)"

XxXxXxX

 _Beacon. Hours later._

There was applause as the members of those that collected the white king pieces were announced left the stage. Next were the four the picked the white queen. Ordo, Rose, and two others stood on stage still wearing their armor and weapons, albeit put away; Ordo had his helmet held under his right arm.

"Rose Wulfhammer, Lapis Regalia, Ordo Larr, and Daffodil Maize (10). The four of you collected the white queen pieces. From this day forward you will be known as team ORDL (Ordinal) (11) led by Ordo Larr," Ozpin announced.

They left the stage and stood together on the side as the next set of students were called up. That being Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark forming Team CRDL (Cardinal). To be honest, Ordo didn't care about them; and Cardin had a look about him that gave him one of those elite glances, that and the disgust that he gave towards Rose.

The next group was called up, "Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together and Team JNPR (Juniper) led by Jaune Arc." Everyone that had an interaction with him thus far looked at him in surprise, especially since everyone expected it to be Pyrrah to be the leader. Ozpin congratulated Jaune and Pyrrha gave Jaune a playful punch in the shoulder that floored him.

'I'm going to have to take a look at his records,' Ordo thought. 'He's not much of a fighter, but he seems to be a decent strategist.'

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. This day forward you will work as Team RWBY (Ruby) led by Ruby Rose."

Once more many looked at her in shock, primarily due to her age, but even Ordo saw her planning and commands that she used definitely gave her a good running for team leader, and Ozpin and the other instructors must have seen it.

Yang quickly moved over to her sister and hugged her in joy. Ozpin then stated, probably in full realization that his microphone was still active, "Looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year."

 **To be continued...?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, another pilot done. That was quite a beast as that covered episodes 1-8 of Volume 1. Let's be honest, it ended there more naturally than anywhere else. And now, notes!**

 **1\. A reference to the "knifle" shirt on the RT Store.**

 **2\. I never specified what kind of WESTAR model, only that it was of the series; so it makes that iconic sound that the Mandalorian WESTAR rifles and pistols make.**

 **3\. It's exactly as I said there, I immediately translated it there.**

 **4\. I watched the episode once more and it was never specifically shown where the others were, only Jaune, Ruby, and Yang were specifically shown. The only person that we know for certain that wasn't on that airship was Weiss.**

 **5\. Baradium is the main explosive element that is in Thermal Detonators. In Legends it's OP, but in Legends, it's only mentioned as being an ingredient in most explosives in the SW universe in canon.**

 **6\. (YouTube)** **watch?v=zcmThZNTUhw**

 **7.** **Daily remembrance of those passed on *I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal.* Followed by repetition of loved ones' names.**

 **8\. Idiot.**

 **9\. See note #3, the same thing.**

 **10\. These are all original characters. Only two have been declared for their sex and features, that being Ordo and Rose; the other two are only named.**

 **11\. If you know numbering systems Ordinal numbering starts with 0 and Cardinal starts with 1, even though we know that their name is meant to be color coordinated.**

 **Ok, that's all I have for notes this time around. And only one YouTube link? That's a new one for me. So I'm going to touch on why this is being kept from being a full series like my other stories. 1) I'm not quite sure on the other two members and what their designs, races, sexes, weapons, and Semblances are going to be. 2) How Ordo and his presence in the world of RWBY will impact the rest of the story. Will he be able to prevent certain events that happen at the end of Volume 3? I have no idea; that's why this is only a pilot at this time until I decide otherwise.**

 **Next are some things that I would really like to explore should I continue this.**

 **1\. Ordo kicking Cardin's ass in combat class.**

 **2\. Romance possibilities.**

 **3\. The impact of Jedi training from the Outlander's Holocron.**

 **4\. If I make it to the end of Volume 3 possibly getting assistance from clan allies from back on Mandalore to retake both Beacon/Vale as well as taking out Cinder and other baddies.**

 **I can't really think of any hypothetical Q &A stuff so I'm going to leave it here.**

 **Should I continue this one? Let me know.**

 **See you guys all next time!**


	19. A SW x Avatar: TLA pilot

**Ok, so this was an idea that came about via drinking and deep thought while watching the Last Airbender review by the Nostalgia Critic, you know the one, the one by M. Night Shyamalan. The one Avatar adaptation that we say doesn't exist, but yet does. Now I will state that there is a promising SW/Avatar crossover already here, but I wanted to throw my hat in and see what I could do with a pilot.**

 **Now, in terms of timeline placement, I've decided to place the arrival of my OC shortly after the battles of Scarriff and Yavin. The reasoning makes sense as there is a 4-year gap between Episodes 4 and 5 making this optimal timeline exploration. This also opens an opportunity later, should I continue this fic into a full-fledged series, for exploration into the Korra series where the Avatar world is even more advanced than it was less than 100 years prior. Now I have this starting during Book 2: Earth of Avatar as that seems to be the optimal time for me as it allows me to explore things after certain characters had been introduced.**

 **Rating: T to T+ for some violence and language.**

 **Disclaimer: I own only my laptop and my copy of MS Word. Star Wars belongs to Disney; Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Viacom, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko. See the Foreword for the rest of the disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

XxXxXxX

Far above a blue-green marble in some little pocket of space in the galaxy where a moon gently orbits a planet that has no knowledge of the greater galaxy and its troubles and struggles of the citizens under a tyrannical Empire, an eyeball-shaped craft with three w-shaped wings extending outwards drops back into real-space. Its engines screeched as it flew uncontrollably towards the planet.

In the interior of the craft, a single occupant in a fight suit and helmet struggled to keep marginal control as warning alarms and klaxons blared, "Warning, hyperdrive offline. Maneuverability: limited. Recommendation: land and perform repairs."

"No shit," the occupant replied, banking to get the fighter in position to enter the planet's atmosphere. "Yeah, great idea Shan. Steal a shiny TIE Defender, they SURE aren't going to shoot at you."

The ship rattled and shook as it entered the atmosphere. "Warning: shields depleting at an increased rate."

"Fierfek."

Down below on the surface people on every continent and landmass looked up as a small meteor crossed the sky at a speed that baffled even the most learned scholars while screaming. There was even a small skirmish that stopped just to gaze at the strange astrological event.

The burning craft was over a desert screaming past an iron filled mountain. Warning sirens sounded as the numbers on the altimeter quickly decreased into the low dozens of meters. "Recommendation: bail out. Crash imminent," the onboard computer warned.

Shan watched in horror as his ejection seat refused to respond despite his futile pulling the lever manually. Shan saw the ground rapidly approaching and braced himself for impact, and possible death. He felt himself jerk forward and fell immediately into unconsciousness.

The next time Shan opened his eyes he had a super massive headache, his ribs hurt, and it was night out. 'Who am I?' he asked himself. 'Right, Theron Shan.'

Theron had been named after his great (and then some) grandfather also named Theron who had been one of the Republic's best spies during the long Cold War between the Empire and Republic. Theron was honored to be named after such an important historical figure. Theron had even followed in his ancestor's footsteps as when he turned seventeen he left Corellia to join the Rebel Alliance. For two years he worked under Phoenix squadron operating near Lothal and transferred to the Alliance's deep cover division and waited for his next operation. He was given the task of stealing a new model of TIE designated as Defender which proved to be a very difficult fighter to defeat in dogfights. He was to bring one back, along with a squadron's worth if possible, for R&D to figure out how to both counter its systems and for Intelligence to figure out how to defeat it in battle.

Well… the operation went horribly wrong. He was to infiltrate the Sienar factory and steal a fighter off the assembly line after inspection when a team of Rebels would cause a diversion to allow him to escape in the chaos.

It did not go according to plan at all.

The small task force arrived on time, but they were pushed back by superior numbers on the station. Therefore, they were not able to deactivate the AA defenses and one of the solar panels responsible for proper power to the hyperdrive was hit causing some damage, but not enough to scrub the mission. It was only once he entered hyperspace that the problem was made known to the system and him. It forced him out of hyperspace around the orbit of this planet.

Theron looked around the small cockpit and the release for his crash webbing. Seeing as the catch would not release him, he cut himself free with the knife he kept on him. Once free he braced himself as he fell onto the hatch of the fighter, strongly implying that the TIE was upside down on the ground. He unsealed the hatch, but it only opened a few centimeters before stopping. Looking out he saw that the dorsal wing was missing which is why it was closer to the ground than it should be if the wing was still there. Looking out of the viewport it was a clear shot out of the fighter; he drew his K-16 Bryar pistol and fired a charged bolt into the viewport blowing it out. He crawled out of the wreckage and took a look at his surroundings; there were sand dunes everywhere. This planet, or at least this specific section gave Tatooine a run for its money.

One thing was certain as he looked at the fighter, it wasn't going to fly again. He placed his hands on his head and sighed in exasperation, the only option would be to repair the fighter. But there was one slight, tiny problem. He couldn't repair shit. He went back to the fighter and checked the small cargo bay which was supposed to hold forty-five kilos of cargo plus a week's worth of consumables.

Theron had to pry the cargo bay open and to his dismay, all he found inside was the prototype astromech droid model he had reprogrammed to help him with his task. "And no food. Isn't that just great?" Theron said aloud in the most sarcastic way he could, throwing the bay door away. He pulled the droid out with a grunt. "Well aren't you light?" he said with a strained huff. He carried the droid down carefully as he used one of the still attached wings as a step, but dropped it in the sand dune. Theron jumped from the fighter's side and landed in the dune as well. He opened a panel on the domed head of the droid and flicked a switch.

Within seconds the Imperial colored droid lit up and came to life. The droid immediately extended a shock prod at him. "Hey! Is that any way to treat the guy that saved your metal ass?" Theron asked.

"You dropped me!" it beeped angrily in droid binary.

"I did not! That was the crash!" Theron lied.

"Did too! I was secured before I powered off!"

The two stared at each other in a staring contest to see who would relent first. Theron was doomed from the start as droids don't blink. Finally, Theron turned away. "Fine! I dropped you while taking you out of an overturned fighter. Happy?"

"Very. So where are we?"

Theron looked at the sky. "None of the constellations look familiar and there hasn't been a search party sent by the planet's governing authority so I'm going to guess we're on some backwater planet. And in a desert."

"A desert? That can't be good for you, you know, someone who needs water to survive."

"Then I suggest we look at our options. I can tell you one thing, that fighter isn't going to fly, BB" Theron said with a thumb pointed towards the TIE.

BB-1 looked at the damaged, crashed TIE for a moment, leaning to see behind Theron. "Turn on the emergency beacon?" he suggested.

"It's still configured with the standard Imperial channel. If we turn that on and they discover we're not Imps, well me anyway, I'll be interrogated and/or executed. You? They'll just give you a memory wipe before putting you back into service. Us squishy biological lifeforms don't have that luxury," Theron replied sarcastically. He sighed, "Besides, the beacon in there is tamper-proof and we wouldn't be able to adjust the signal to a Rebel one."

"Find civilization and wait for them to find us?" BB suggested.

"Even if I did make it alive it could take a while, if not ever show up."

"Well aren't you just a bucket full of sunshine?" BB quipped.

Theron shrugged, "I'm just being realistic here." He leaned against the hull of the fighter and sighed, "There's no food or water in the cargo hold that would have been left there post-production but I stole it before it could get those provisions."

"A little bit of a lack of foresight, don't you think?"

"Hey! It's not my fault, they give out provisions at where ever they're stationed at."

"I'm just trying to inject some kind of humor into this very dire situation for you."

"For me? What about you, hmm?"

"I run on electricity, duh. I can just use one of those TIE solar panels to keep myself operational."

Theron looked at the sole remaining, undamaged solar panel and got an idea. "Do you think we could make an improvised speeder with the panel, some of the repulsorlift engines, and a rudimentary control stick?"

The droid stood still as it began to run calculations and other processes. "It would be possible."

"Well, let's get started then. It'll be easier to work in the cool of the night rather than the heat of the day."

For the next eight hours with minimal rest, the human-droid duo cut loose the remaining panel and pylon and set it flat on the dune so that the pylon was sticking in the air. Next, they scavenged the repulsorlift engines from the fighter's chassis and mounted them on the underside of the panel; positioning them so that one was in front and two on the left and right sides of the wing pointed straight down while the last was positioned at the rear to provide thrust forward. Theron then ripped the flight chair from the fighter and placed it flush against where the pylon was once connected. The next few hours after that were spent getting the control yoke wiring lined up with both the repulsorlift engines and the twin laser cannons that worked in theory. BB spent most of his time soldering and testing wires as well as fine-tuning the engines so they worked efficiently with the levels of power provided. The only way to turn the thing was to lean to either side as there weren't any fine-tuned controls and could precisely control the engines. They were rudimentary, and that was an understatement. It pretty much only did start, forward, stop, and fire; everything else was manual.

The sun had just been rising behind the horizon when they finished. Theron attached a power meter to one of the panel's leads that would have connected to the fighter and saw promising levels being generated. Of course, these were just preliminary numbers as this was from scattered rays and not direct sunlight.

The numbers began to climb. "Yes. Yes!" Theron chanted in hope as the repulsorlift engines started to hum. Then the power levels immediately plummeted and the engines stopped. "No! Motherkriffer Force damn it!" he yelled as he threw the power monitor off into the distance.

BB gave a bleep the equivalent of an annoyed sigh and rolled up to the improvised speeder and started soldering more wires to each other that they somehow missed before. Theron raged before finally noticing that the TIE speeder was floating. "Are you done raging?" BB asked.

Theron could only blink comically for a minute before responding, "Yes, I am."

Theron jumped up on the craft and tested the controls, which were responsive but slightly sluggish. In the desert, this wouldn't be that much of an issue. He let loose one single burst of the blaster cannons and the power fluctuated as the repulsorlift engines lowered in altitude.

"Ok, so I'll try not to use them unless absolutely needed," Theron muttered. "Then again I don't have anything to use for targeting."

He hopped off and scavenged for whatever else he could find in the wreckage including the stolen E-11 and DLT-19X he got from the factory's Stormtrooper armory. He removed the sole proton torpedo from the launcher and deactivated it so it couldn't be accidentally fired or triggered to explode. He set it

gently behind the improvised pilot seat and secured it in place. He removed his rucksack and checked what he had managed to keep on him through his assignment and mission.

The first of the items was a small cube, the Holocron of Bastila Shan, his great and then some grandmother that had been handed down from generation to generation to each Shan family head to use and learn from. When the Ruusan Reformation occurred a thousand years ago the Shan family changed their names and went into hiding while in plain sight. Some hid among the Mandalorians, creating their own clans inside of houses that they politically identified with. Some hid on Corellia, like Theron's family did, and became well-respected members of society in the political sphere as well as the military world. They hadn't been heard from in a long time but there was supposedly some of the Shan clan on Coruscant.

The second item was a lightsaber that he had constructed out of high-quality parts you could buy anywhere, which considering the family's wealth on Corellia was quite easy, and a kaiburr crystal that he had gotten deep in the Corellian mountain range that the Force led him to. That was one wild Force-induced trip, that was for certain.

The third item was an ascension gun with two canisters of liquid cable, monofilament rope and an attachable belt for ascension or descending while using the clip attached to the belt as an extra safety measure.

The last thing that he checked was his set of extra clothes that consisted of a shirt, cargo pants, combat boots, fingerless leather gloves, and a nerf hide jacket. Seeing as the TIE pilot armor was much better choice of equipment for a desert as the attached life support system would keep the rest of the suit cool in the heat as well as having a barrier against the whipping sands even if the helmet not being connected to any systems didn't allow for full functionality like a HUD with full sensor readouts. He slung the bag over the seat and secured it in place.

[ Ghost Recon: Wildlands – Broken Bolivia. Alain Johannes ]

Theron hopped onto 'Ugly' and hauled BB between his legs to hold him in place. He then turned on the repulsorlift engines and gave it a good test, using the weight that the craft was now loaded with as it was much more than just him now. It was once again sluggish to respond, but it was still working properly. Seeing as though the sun was rising in the west and was going to reach its apex soon, and given the fact that this desert couldn't go on forever (right?), he chose to allow the Force to guide him, and it was pulling him east.

The Ugly sped away, leaving nothing but a scavenged fighter and dust behind. BB beeped as sand whipped around them. They traveled until the sun had passed the afternoon mark. "Do you even know where we're going?" BB beeped.

"No clue," Theron replied.

"What?!" BB's dome swiveled towards him.

"Hey! We have no idea which way civilization is, my gut is telling me to go this way."

"Oh sure, your gut. Isn't that the same gut that told you to seal a Defender with no supplies in it?" BB snarked.

"Do you want me to ditch you out here? You can certainly roll the rest of the way," Theron shot back.

"Hey! What's that?" BB asked while turning his dome towards something that was just in the distance.

Theron slowed the Ugly down and looked towards where BB was pointed. What he saw sort of surprised him. It was a tower right in the middle of nowhere that looked like it extended down well below the sand. "Well, would you look at that?" Theron muttered as he turned the speeder towards the tower. A minute later he parked and deactivated the repulsorlift engines. He took off his helmet and set it on the seat and gave a long whistle as he saw how far the tower went up. "So, what do you think?"

"It looks like a ruin in the middle of nowhere," BB replied.

"I'm going to go check it out," Theron replied as he took off the helmet and grabbed his rucksack. He dug through the shifted contents until he found his ascension gun and attached the clip to his stolen TIE armor and made sure to grab the two extra canisters of liquid cable as well. He took the comlink out of the helmet and made sure it was secured on his head. He slung his recently acquired E-11 over his shoulder, as well as the rest of the rezipped rucksack, and aimed inside the exposed window at the top of the tower and fired. The metal spike shot out faster than most could react and stuck itself in the roof of the tower where the wall met the tower at. Theron closed the distance and planted his feet against the wall and tested the line to ensure it was in there deep enough for him to rappel inside. Once he confirmed this he activated the line to ascend and zipped up to the window and climbed half inside and shouted back to BB, "Call me on the comlink if anything happens." He then looked down into three building and saw that it was a lot deeper underground than the tower appeared to be. "Well, that's different," he muttered.

He swung himself into the tower and slowly descended into the abyss, making sure to keep an eye on the holographic projection on the side of the gun showing how many meters, with a tenths of a meter as a decimal at the end, was remaining. He reached the bottom, and by bottom see the highest bridge at the top of the entire building, but it seemed to go much deeper. He whistled and it echoed for quite a long while. He looked around as he disconnected himself from the ascension gun and swung his E-11 to bear as well as turning on the flashlight. "I haven't seen architecture like this since dad brought me along on that business trip to Alderaan," Theron remarked.

He felt a tickle at the back of his neck and turned to see what looked like a nocturnal raptor, but massive. "You're human," it remarked in a semi-echoey voice. And it could talk.

"And you're a giant avian," Theron remarked in turn, his rifle ready to be raised at any time.

"You are most unusual."

"I could say the same about you, we don't have hyper-intelligent, giant birds in my neck of the woods."

"And where is this 'neck of the woods'?"

"Far from here."

"Then I advise you human from far from here that humans are no longer permitted in my study. Leave the way you came," it demanded.

"Study? What do you study?" Theron asked rife in curiosity.

"I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things."

"Seems a bit finite to me. By the way, what's your beef with humans? It's obvious you don't hold them in high regard."

"Humans only bother learning things to gain the upper hand on other humans. Just like that firebender who came to this place a few years ago looking to destroy his enemy. So the question becomes, who are you trying to destroy?" it asked as it got in real close to an uncomfortable extent.

"No one. Except for the Galactic Empire. And even then I haven't seen a single Star Destroyer or TIE flying around. But that's not what brought me here."

"Oh?"

"I was drawn here, by something. But for what purpose, I do not know."

"What is it that you want?"

"To go home, back to my brothers and sisters in arms." Theron then got an idea as he felt a malice rising from the avian. "How about a little quid pro quo. I give you something in return for something I know?"

"And what you would you want?"

"Star charts," Theron answered truthfully.

"And you would use these charts for?"

"To find where I am in the galaxy. If I know where I am then I can figure out a way home. You give me the charts, or allow me to copy them, I give you something in return that you can add to your... study, then I'll leave. How does that sound?"

"That is most reasonable. However, an addendum. You will not tell another soul of this place."

"If that is what you wish."

Theron could see that the avian was eying his armor. "How about in exchange for the northern hemisphere of the planet's star charts I give you my armor to both study and display," he negotiated.

"I have never seen such a thing before," Tong replied. "Very well, the northern hemisphere of the night's sky for your armor."

Theron stripped out of the armor and under suit and retrieved his jacket from his rucksack and put it on, the clothing he was wearing before the theft still being worn, well besides the jacket of course. Theron shouldered his rucksack over his shoulder and rifle held with one hand by the pistol grip. "There you go, one suit of exoatmospheric armor."

The avian reached out with a wing and took the armor with an interested hum. "Very impressive. It's made of a material I've never seen before. It's quite the interesting piece."

"And our deal?" Theron asked.

"What do you offer for the southern hemisphere?"

Theron thought deeply. The only other things he had on him were his blaster, lightsaber, Holocron, and a hologram transmitter. The first three were non-negotiable as he had no idea what the political climate nor what the natives were like; and the Holocron was priceless as it had centuries of information inside it. The last he could live without, but it would be irritating. "Would an oral lesson suffice?"

"That would depend on the content being significant."

'Let's hope this works,' Theron thought. He pulled out his emitter and started to recite as the hologram of the galaxy appeared, "The known galaxy is split up into eight sectors at this time: the deep core, the core, the colonies, the expansion region, the mid-rim, the outer rim, wild space, and the unknown regions. The closer you are to the core the more political and governed it becomes whereas the further you get the less more it becomes lawless, with some notable exceptions. There have been multiple governments that have ruled the galaxy for the twenty-five thousand years interstellar travel has existed ranging from the Celestials to the more recent Empire."

"The humans you wish to destroy," Tong noted.

"Trust me, you think you've seen cruelty, the Empire has it mastered to a science that horrifies all who know the truth about them. You said a firebender came here to destroy his enemies? Imagine that, but with a government that can eradicate an entire planet from galactic history. I met a man who was by the side of a man who felt it as it was destroyed. He said that it was like a million souls cried out in terror and were immediately silenced." Theron changed the image from the galaxy map to an image of Alderaan before it was destroyed. "It was a beautiful world, I was there once years ago with my father. If Coruscant was the heart of the Old Republic, Alderaan was its soul. Lush with life and natural beauty you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else. A people so kind and welcoming that you'd think that there was nothing wrong in the galaxy at all. But now?" He switched the image to what an Alliance ship had collected less than a year after the Battle of Yavin. "It's nothing more than dust and echoes. A wound in the Force itself. It was only thanks to hundreds of brave souls that went into the howling abyss and never returned was the reason the weapon that caused this destruction was itself destroyed."

"Then you see that humanity is only out to save itself, and only those that ally themselves with them."

Theron shook his head, "My great grandfather once said that all sentient life has the capacity to commit the vilest of deeds, but they are also capable of the most selfless of acts and greatest of good deeds. We're not perfect and never will be. We just coast along in this big, wide galaxy trying to do the best we can."

The avian could only hum in thought. "You truly are an interesting human. But no matter, we had a deal." A desert fox walked up to Theron's side. "This knowledge seeker will assist you in the information you seek."

Theron looked down and saw that in the fox's eyes held an intelligence well above common beasts. When he looked back up the avian had already taken off and was gliding down into the depths of the library. "I guess it's just you and me," Theron joked. "So, you know where to go?" he asked. The fox shot off towards a bookshelf of old, yet well taken care of books and stopped at the end to look at him. "I suppose you do."

Theron followed the fox until it reached a somewhat large cul de sac that had several tomes on display that were surrounded by bookshelves on both sides. Theron walked over to where the fox stood at. He looked over and saw a chart of stars. The sides of the map were marked with a writing system that Theron didn't recognize at all. He took out a camera and recorded an image of the star map. He then tapped the side of the headset. "BB I'm sending you an image of half of a star chart, start running it through your databanks against the star charts of all known systems, I'll send the other half in just a moment."

"Why not send it at the same time?" BB asked.

"Don't be a smartass, it's in two parts for the north and south hemispheres," Theron rolled his eyes. He pulled up his coat sleeve and tapped a few buttons on a small gauntlet under his coat. A holographic display showed a percentage that rapidly went from zero to a hundred.

"Received," BB reported.

Theron turned his attention to the fox, "Where's the other one?" It scurried on over to another pedestal to which Theron followed. He took another image of the new star chart and sent it to BB.

"Received. I will start to-. Incoming unknowns," BB reported.

"What do you mean?"

"Five humans and some sort of small mammalian flying on the back of a large six-legged mammal."

"Stay out of sight, we have no idea how the locals will react to an advanced machine like yourself."

"Roger."

Theron looked around for anything else that he could use as a way to get home. He looked to the fox, "You wouldn't happen to have anything on advanced engineering and spaceflight, particularly hyperdrives or superluminal travel, would you?" he asked. The fox only tilted its head at him in confusion and Theron only sighed. "Well, it was worth a try."

"Heads up, they're coming down the tower now," BB warned.

"Well that's just great," Theron muttered. "Keep me posted on any changes," he ordered BB. He then turned to the fox as he closed the frequency, "Have a written language Codex or something around here?"

The fox cocked its head as if to say, 'We're a library, what do you think?' The fox then ran off like it did before and Theron followed it. After many twists and turns, they arrived back at the main central chamber at the place where Theron rappelled down earlier. He could hear voices coming from a second rope, and weirdly enough they spoke Basic.

"And look at those beautiful buttresses!" an older male remarked, to which two that were younger snickered to. "What's funny?" he asked.

"We, uh… really like architecture," one replied.

To which the older man replied, "As do I."

Theron watched from behind a bookshelf that provided a lot of cover should he get into a firefight. He examined each of the newcomers with a critical eye. The first down the new line was an older male, probably middle aged from his vocal range, and he wore what looked like earthy colored clothing meant to trek throughout the desert. The second was a yellow and orange ensemble kid whose clothing resembled something akin to robes of some kind; the big key feature that he had was that he was both bald and had an arrow tattoo on his head and hands. He also carried a staff of some kind. The third that came down the line, a teenage boy, was dressed in a dark blue set of clothing that was similar in general style to the first, however, it didn't look like something someone would wear in a desert willingly. Although it did seem he possessed some common sense as at least he had the sense to be sleeveless. It looked like he had a sword, but Theron couldn't quite see it. The last one who came down the line was a teenage girl wearing the same color scheme as the previous boy but her clothing was in a more feminine style. She appeared to have no weapons on her.

"Doesn't anyone find it a bit odd that there's another rope here?" the girl asked.

"Don't be silly, Katara. Those strands are much too small to be used as rope," the blue-clad boy replied.

"And the metal spike they're attached to at the top of the tower, Sokka?" the girl asked in turn.

"Maybe it was left by a past explorer and a spider attached its webbing to it?" the arrow headed boy asked.

The girl placed her hand to her chin in thought. "I don't know Aang. Professor, are there any desert spiders that could create a web like this long and black?"

The desert clothed older man took a long look at the cable that Theron came down on. "I don't believe that this is spider webbing," he replied. "It looks like a braided rope of some kind, only extremely thin and braised on a small scale."

The blue-clad boy, Sokka, noticed the ascension gun was attached to the cabling. "What's this?" he asked, poking at it. "This is definitely not a spider."

"It looks like some kind of handheld device," Katara remarked.

"My word! The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tiled rendered avian symbol is-." The Professor paused as his companions gave him a look of 'short version, please'. "Nice owl." They heard something and Theron sensed a familiar presence that he had met not too long ago, to which they hid behind one of the pillars on the opposite side of him, the Professor needing to be pulled away by the Aang kid.

A few moments later the Tong owl-guy walked right to where the ascension gun still was and now a newly added rope next to it, it's talons scraping against the ground. It twisted its head a hundred-eighty degrees in a disturbing fashion so it looked directly at the newcomers regardless of their fruitless hiding. "I know you're back there," Tong declared knowingly.

The desert clad professor walked out fearlessly, and stupidly, towards Tong and introduced himself, "I am Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University."

Tong look unamused, "You should leave the way you came. Unless you want to become a STUFFED head of anthropology."

The professor looked over to where Tong looked and saw several beheaded and stuffed creatures; he gulped and rubbed his neck as if imagining himself losing his head over this trip and encounter. Sokka, the blue-clothed boy, walked forward and asked, "Are you the spirit that brought this library to the physical world?"

"Indeed, I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things. And you are obviously humans; which, by the way, are no longer allowed in my study."

"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked.

"Hmph, humans only bother learning things in order to gain the edge on other humans. Like that firebender who came to this place a few years ago looking to destroy his enemy. So..." Tong craned his neck and got in the face of Sokka, more than likely creating a most uncomfortable, if not pants wetting, experience, "who are you trying to destroy?"

"What?!" Sokka waved his arms innocently. "No, no destroying. We're not into that."

"Then why have you come here?" Tong asked, staring into the boy's eyes as if he were staring into his soul.

"Umm..." he paused to think too long, "knowledge for knowledge's sake?"

"If you're going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it," Tong replied unamused, which amused Theron to an extent.

"I'm not lying. I'm with the Avatar and he's the bridge between our worlds, he'll vouch for me."

Sokka elbowed Aang in the back. "Ow. Uh yeah... I'll vouch. We will not abuse the knowledge in this library, good spirit. You have my word," Aang stated with a bow, to which the others did as well.

"Hmm... I'll let you peruse my vast collection on one condition. In order to prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge," Tong declared.

The professor was the first to approach the massive owl with a first edition book. The girl was the second who handed over some kind of 'waterbending' scroll. Next was this... Avatar who gave a wanted poster; Theron knew the format as he had seen many of Rebels and Rebel sympathizers alike in the past: an image, description, and monetary amount of information and/or capture of the fugitive. Last was the boy who, on the spot, tied a hastily tied knot. Theron agreed with the owl that the boy wasn't very bright, well in the knowledge sense at least.

As they did all this, Theron mulled over this new information he learned. First, that this library was brought to the physical world, hinting that there was another; such as the Netherworld of the Force. Second, was that Wan Shi Tong was a spirit of some kind and a fairly powerful one at that based on the amount of respect that their so-called bridge between worlds had for him; that, or he just had respect for them in general. Third, was the aforementioned Avatar, this... bridge between this spirit world and physical world. How was he, a kid, a bridge? Theron reached out with the Force and probed at the kid; to which he was immediately floored metaphorically at the sheer amount of power that he held. He had only felt that kind of power once, and that was when he had a brush with the Emperor in a parade on Corellia years ago; although, that presence was beyond dark and hungry while this was light.

'Note to self, don't piss off the kid,' Theron mentally noted.

After the knot was taken Tong declared, "Enjoy the library," before flying off similarly to how had before in his encounter with Theron.

"Bright enough to fool you," Sokka said menacingly, and just loud enough for Theron to just barely hear. And Theron? He didn't quite like the sound of that. It totally didn't sound like that would come back to bite everyone in their ass soon.

'What is your agenda?' Theron asked mentally.

The fox nudged Theron and started walking once more. They walked for a short while until it stopped and pawed at a stone sculpture that had several languages on it. At the top was the flowing script that the scrolls that he had imaged have written on them. Below that was a second one that was more like Aurebesh but it was definitely a different language. Below that was another stylized script-like language similar to the first. And the final one surprised him: Notron Cant. Notron Cant was an old human language used well over sixteen thousand years ago before the first precursor of Basic, Old Galactic Basic. The only reason he knew of its name was because his ancestor's Holocron had mentioned it in passing and had a single instance of the alphabet used. After all, it was a dead language.

Theron took out his holoimager and tapped his comm headset. "BB, another image incoming."

"What do you want now? Can't you see I'm not only running those maps through my databanks but also keeping an eye on the two remaining companions outside the tower," BB replied with annoyance.

"Just store it for now, I'll look at it later when we have time," Theron replied as he took the image of the entire stone tablet.

"Fine... Sure, make me waste more space for your touristy images."

Theron only rolled his eyes as he initiated the data transfer and closed the audio channel. That droid was a wonderful asset and traveling companion, regardless of how short they had been together, but he could be a real pain at times. 'Maybe my reprogramming software did more than I was led on to believe,' Theron pondered.

He turned to the fox once more. "So this Avatar guy, have a condensed version of what he is?" he asked.

The fox nodded and started to walk towards another part of the library and Theron followed. A few minutes later they came to a section of books and Theron started to hear voices, obviously the kids from earlier. "Sokka, where are you going?" Aang asked.

"I want to know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day," Sokka replied. "This could be promising," he said as he ran off, the rest of his companions following close behind him.

Once they left Theron walked into the aisle carrying his blaster in a relaxed but ready carry. The fox led him to a scroll on a shelf that was pretty small that was stacked next to a lot of books that were hundreds of pages thick. He set the scroll on the ground and unrolled it to see that it was a fairly short document. He took an image of it and sent it to BB immediately for backup storage. He then placed the scroll where it belonged on the shelf.

A few moments later the library started to rumble and shake. "What's going on?" Theron turned to ask the fox that had been by him, only to find that the fox had scurried off. Sand started to pour slowly into the library. "What in the Nine Hells is going on!?" he shouted.

Every fiber of his being and the Force was screaming at him to get out. And listen he did. He started to run towards the top center of the library, using the Force to jump up the stairs to skip as many as he could to cut time. Sand crawled in from the lower levels and swiftly rose up before stopping suddenly, starting, then stopping once more. Theron continued to run up the stairs until he was met with the girl, Katara, who was standing off against Tong.

"Your waterbending won't do you much good here. I've studied southern water style, northern water style, even foggy swamp style," Tong attempted to intimidate the girl.

Theron reached inside his bag and grabbed his lightsaber. He was currently in the mindset of 'the enemy of my enemy is my ally'. Before he could activate it, the boy, Sokka, came falling from the Aang kid's glider brandishing a book and slammed it into the oversized owl. "That's called Sokka style, learn it!" Sokka taunted.

Theron took the chance and ran over to the ascension gun and clipped it to his belt as well as his lightsaber. "Wait, who are you?" Katara asked.

"Escape from death now, questions later," Theron said as he initiated the ascension gun and immediately zipped up the line faster than anyone could manually climb. When he reached the top he unclipped his lightsaber, activated it and sliced off the cable from the wall, and pushed against the wall leaping out the window at the top all within a second. He landed and rolled in the sand, feeling the grains sand in his shirt, coat, and pants. "Well, that's going to irritate me for a good while," he muttered.

As he took inventory of his person, feeling that nothing was missing from what he brought in, besides the armor, he willingly gave over. Not one moment after he dusted himself off and picked up his blaster did the kids, flying on a glider no less, fly out of the tower window. Aang landed with a landing that would have put a Loth-cat to shame while the other two fell onto the sand in a heap. The girl that had somehow missed Theron's attention released whatever hold she was keeping on the tower and said tower sank into the sand faster than you could say 'hello'.

Sand was kicked up with the sudden sinking of the library tower. When the kicked up sand cleared there was a good three-meter deep crater where the tower once stood. "We got it! There's a solar eclipse coming. The Fire Nation's in trouble now," Sokka said as he and Katara hugged.

Theron tapped his headset, "BB group up on me."

"Need help!" BB shouted over the comms.

"BB, where are you?" Theron demanded.

"Coming towards you!"

Theron dropped his rucksack and raised his rifle towards where he heard what sounded like whipping winds and a BB unit shrieking. "What are you doing?" Sokka asked him as he approached.

"You might want to stand a few more feet to your right," Theron said without looking at Sokka as he was aiming down the scope towards a dune. Sokka heeded his advice and took a few steps to his right.

A few tense seconds later BB came flying over the hill and sped right past Theron before turning around to hide behind his leg. "They're right behind me!" he shrieked.

"What's that?" Sokka yelled in surprise as he pointed at BB.

Before anyone could ask another question about him or BB, a sand surfing boat flew over the dune and for some reason, Theron thought it would be oddly appropriate if music was playing. Specifically, music played out of a ground vehicle named after a feline with red armored soldiers driving it. Said sand surfing boat had a small tornado contained by a sail that was being controlled by two individuals.

Theron fired once with his blaster hitting the driver of the vessel in the chest, killing him immediately. The surfer lost control and jumped over the rim of where the tower once was. As it was in the air the remaining passenger jumped out, flailing as he flew through the air almost comically. Theron Force Pulled the passenger to him. Both the group of kids as well as the passenger were surprised at this sudden gesture from him. As the passenger flew towards Theron he closelined the figure, knocking him out instantly. The surfer crashed into the small cliff and shattered into splinters.

Theron turned to BB, "You alright, you bucket of bolts?"

"No thanks to you," he beeped back.

"Ungrateful little droid. Maybe I shouldn't have taken you with me," he prodded.

As Theron said this the kids approached him. "Who are you?" Katara asked.

Theron raised an eyebrow and looked to his mechanical companion. "I'm Theron Shan and this is my companion BB-1," he replied.

"What is that thing?" Sokka asked.

BB let out the digital rendition of s scoff as if he were offended. "He's a droid. A mechanical construct with a personality all his own, much to my dismay on the latter."

"Hey!" BB shouted.

"So, uh... what's your whole deal?" Theron asked, waving one hand among the group.

"We're a group of travelers looking for information on stopping the Fire Nation," Sokka replied.

Theron only raised an eyebrow. "I don't need to be an 'all-seeing' owl to see that you're telling me a half-truth. So is that kid," Theron pointed to Aang, "actually some kind of bridge between the physical and beyond or were you talking out of your ass?"

"That's Aang and he's-."

"The Avatar?" Theron interrupted.

Sokka instantly deflated and his hand reached for his weapon but didn't draw it. "What do you want with him?"

"Nothing, really. Curiosity and all that," he dismissed with a hand casually.

"Speaking of which, where is Appa, Aang?" Katara asked.

Aang approached the girl still squatting in the sand looking sad. "Toph, where is Appa?" Aang asked fearfully. She only shook her head slowly, mournfully. Aang then released a few tears that streamed down his face.

The wind started to kick up that blew sand all around them in the start of a sandstorm. Everyone stood in silence and looked around to see if there was any trail of the individuals that took this 'Appa'. Theron also found that his cobbled together speeder was also gone, his DLT-19X had fallen off of the speeder when those thieves had taken both Appa and the speeder, he swung that over his shoulder. The one thing that Theron was most fearful about that was unaccounted for was the proton torpedoes.

"How could you let them take Appa, why didn't you stop them?" Aang shouted angrily at Toph.

'The girl's name is Toph and she is blind,' Theron noted.

"I couldn't! The library was sinking and you guys were still inside-," Toph replied.

"You could have come to get us, I could have saved him," Aang yelled once more.

She turned towards him slightly. "I can hardly feel any vibrations out here! The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for-."

"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!" Aang accused the girl.

'Real mature kid, blaming the blind girl,' Theron thought.

Katara approached Aang and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Stop it, Aang. You know she did everything she could to stop them. She saved our lives," Katara tried to comfort him.

"Who's going to save us?" Sokka asked in reply. "We'll never make it out of here."

"That's all you guys care about, yourselves!" Aang exclaimed in anger; already skipping past denial and straight to anger.

"Give me five minutes with sleeping beauty here and I can get all the answers we need," Theron interrupted while pointing at the now identified sandbender.

"What do you mean?"

Theron was very elusive, "Let's just say I have skills that can get him to open up."

"Can you get him to tell us where he took Appa?" Aang asked hopefully.

"If he knows, I'll find out. Plus, I can get a general direction on where we need to go to at least reach civilization."

"Do it," Sokka replied, superseding any objections.

Theron nodded and walked over to the groggy sandbender that was just waking up. Theron squatted over the sandbender and held his lightsaber in his hand. "Wake up, numbnuts," he said as he prodded the bender. He immediately tried to fight back but before he could do anything Theron punched him in the jaw swiftly. "Now that wasn't very nice. You see, we're short on time and I want to play a little game with you."

"A game?" the bender groaned.

"Yes. In this game, you're going to tell me what I want to know. And if you don't, I start cutting things off," Theron replied as he activated his lightsaber, the brilliant green glow filling the general area. He then immediately stabbed it into the sand near the bender's head, allowing him to see the place it was stabbed into the ground. Theron removed it a second later leaving a molten glass scar in the sand. "You see, that's what this can do to just sand. Imagine what it'll do to you once I start with your toes or fingers. Searing pain that will make you wish you could die; and I'll make sure to do it slowly," Theron said with a demented grin.

The bender's eyes shot from Theron to the blade and then back to Theron. He could see in his eyes that he was scared shitless. "I-I'll tell you anything you want!" the bender replied.

"That's great! Now," Theron moved the blade to hover just over the man's kneecap, "which way leads out of the desert or to the nearest settlement?"

He pointed east. "It's a day's walk that way."

"Excellent! Now, see that kid over there?" The bender nodded. "You see, it seems like you have taken something of his, his friend Appa was taken from this place not too long ago. You wouldn't happen to know where he went, would you?"

The bender looked extremely unsettled and didn't respond. Theron lowered his lightsaber towards his genitals and raised an eyebrow in a challenge; almost daring him to do something stupid or to tell a lie. "Our leader told us to take it," he reluctantly spat out.

"Where and why?" Theron demanded.

Theron didn't need to look and see that Aang was pissed. "Where did you-?!" Aang yelled but Theron held up a hand to tell him that he had everything under control.

"Don't mind him, our conversation is between you and me. You can tell me," Theron said with false assurance, "I'm a nice guy."

He looked to the kid then back to Theron. "Sky Bisons are rare, almost extinct; in fact, we thought they were until he saw it back at the spring earlier today. Our leader thought that we could get a lot of gold for selling it to help our village. We've been suffering as of late, the Fire Nation raiding patrols have been taking more 'taxes' each week makes it more difficult to feed our people," he tried to excuse.

"That doesn't give you the right to-!" Aang interjected angrily.

"Kid, I've had it up to here with you! Shut it and let me work!" Theron shot back, effectively shutting Aang up. "Ok, you had your reasons," Theron felt a disturbance in the Force coming from Aang, "no matter how misguided they were. Now you have yourself a pristine Sky Bison ready to sell, where would you take it to do that?"

"There's a town to the west of the desert that's a neutral town. If you know the right people you can sell anything to anyone. We planned on taking it to one of the many fences, from there they will resell it to a seller of their choosing."

"How far away is it?"

"Days on foot but hours on a sand-sailer."

"And if we were to walk there right now?"

"The fence my leader usually uses works fast. Even if you were to get there in the next day, the Sky Bison will be gone."

"Do you think I could have a word with this fence of yours?" Theron asked. "Think I could find out who the buyer is?"

"He keeps everything anonymous. Buyers wear masks to keep themselves unknown. A lot of... things go through his store." Theron didn't like the way he paused on 'things'.

"What kind of things?" Theron hostilely whispered.

His eyes widened in fear. "Anything! Anything you want! If you want it, you go to him!"

"Anything? Nothing is off limits?"

"If you want it and you have the coin for it then you can buy it from him!"

Theron narrowed his eyes at the bender. He then whispered very softly, "Have you sold any items that some may consider questionable?"

"No! We may be desperate, but not that desperate!"

Theron still looked at him with a critical eye. "Hmm..." Theron could see that he was scaring the bender even more. Theron then extinguished his lightsaber gaining a sigh of relief from the bender and Katara. Theron then surprised everyone by striking the bender in the temple with the pommel of his lightsaber, knocking him out instantly. "And that will make things easier for us."

"How?" Katara asked, still slightly in shock at his action.

"Do you really want to be dragging this guy's sorry behind with us? Before you get all up on your altruist horse, remember that we only have so much water and food to spare before we either starve or start getting severely dehydrated. One more person means less for everyone else." Theron could already see that Aang was on his side, based on that this Appa sky bison thing was his friend, if his reactions were anything to go by, it wouldn't take much to sway him. "Think of it this way: this guy's people knows the desert better than anyone and survived for centuries out here, he can survive if he has the moxie to do it."

"I don't like it, but you do make sense," Katara relented with a sigh. She then saw Aang open his glider. "Where are you going?" she asked him.

"To find Appa," Aang replied. He then shot off into the air towards the general direction that the bender had pointed.

Theron shook his head, "That was foolish of him."

"What do you mean 'foolish'?" Katara asked. "He's worried about his friend."

"And he is commendable for caring about his friend, but if numbnuts back there was even a few degrees off then he'll be many kilometers off."

"We better start walking," Katara remarked, "we're the only ones that know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se."

"Great, we're on a planet that's primitive," BB remarked morosely.

"And now you too know my pain, my mechanical friend," Theron replied with a tone that said 'screw you too'.

They started to walk away from the crater and knocked out sandbender. Sokka then remarked, "Do you think if we dig up the giant owl he'll give us a ride?"

Theron could only shake his head and roll his eyes at that statement. They started walking towards where the sandbender had pointed to where the closest town was. They didn't have a glider or anything to help propel them faster than walking speed. Well, sprinting was an option but they wouldn't last very long by sprinting. And so began their long and slow trek through the desert.

A few hours later the sandstorm had died down and the sun started to really beat down on the group. Theron didn't need expert survivalist training, to which he was still training in, to see that they all had started to get heat stroke. It didn't take long before they started to turn on each other. All it took was for Toph to stop in front of Sokka and him running into her to set them off.

"Come on guys, we have to stick together," Katara encouraged.

The next event amused Theron as he saw them literally stick together. "If I sweat anymore I don't think sticking together is going to be a problem," Sokka replied as he pried himself from Toph.

Toph pushed Sokka aside and asked, "Katara, can I have some water?"

"Ok, but we have to try and conserve it," she replied as she did what Theron thought to be unthinkable. She did that bending thing. Theron could feel a small tremor in the Force when she did it. It was as if the Force itself was surrounding the water she was 'bending' and around her herself. She then 'bent' a portion of water for everyone.

"We're drinking your bending water?" Sokka asked. He smacked his lips trying to figure out the... distinct taste. It was something that Theron noticed but shook it off as he had much worse during survival training. "You used this on the swamp guy!" he exclaimed as he spat out what remnants hadn't already gone down his gullet.

"It does taste swampy," Toph remarked.

"I've had worse," Theron shrugged.

"I'm sorry, it's all we have," Katara replied apologetically.

"What do you mean, 'you've had worse'?" Toph asked Theron.

"During survival training, I had to drink raw, unfiltered pisswater," Theron replied. Everyone shivered at the thought of that, hoping that it wouldn't come to that.

Sokka spotted something in the distance, "Not anymore! Look!" There were some desert plants that looked like they could contain water. He walked over and drew his sword and sliced the plant open and started to drink the contents of it.

Katara grabbed Toph and yelled, "Sokka, you shouldn't be eating strange plants!" Theron followed slightly behind them, shifting his slung blasters slightly.

Sokka sliced open another of the bulbous planet's... bulbs and started to drink more. "There's water trapped inside!" he replied as he presented the plant-like a bowl to his sister.

"I don't know," Katara replied hesitantly.

"Suit yourself, it's very thirst quenching, though." Theron saw his pupils dilate to an absurd degree. "Drink cactus juice, it'll quench ya." Theron watched in amusement as the kid then did the worm. "Nothing's quenchier! It's the quenchiest!"

"Ok, I think you've had enough," Katara said as she grabbed the cactus half and started to drain it but Theron stopped her.

He took a small sip himself and noted, "Yeah, definitely a hallucinogen."

"Hallucinogen?"

"Oh yeah, he's going to be seeing things for hours."

Confirming his notation, Sokka walked over to Toph and remarked, "Who lit Toph on fire?"

"See?" And to even further his point the flying monkey, Momo, flew in circles above them in a speed that increased per rotation until it lost control and face planted into the sand.

"Can I get some of that water?" Toph asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Katara said and grabbed Momo and led Toph off saying, "Come on, we need to find Aang." She started to walk but had to go back for her brother, which amused Theron who could already feel the hallucinations starting to come on.

Sokka then asked, "How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?"

They walked on for the next hour or so until Katara asked, "How are you not like Sokka and Momo are?"

"Oh, trust me, I am. I'm tripping balls. I just know how to handle myself," Theron replied.

"How?"

"I learned this technique from my great (and then some) grandmother that supercharges the filtering of toxins at an expedited rate."

They continued on walking until there was a flare in the Force behind them followed immediately by an explosion and a dust wave that reached them. "What was that?" Katara asked.

"What, what is what?" Toph asked.

Theron looked through the scope of his DLT-19X and saw a mushroom cloud. "It's a giant mushroom," Sokka replied with religious reverence. "Maybe it's friendly!"

"It looks like an explosion. But of what, I don't know. There are no telltale signs of black smoke that signify that it's a chemical one. And given the fact that we're neither blind nor burning alive tells me that it's not a nuclear one," Theron replied.

"Let's just keep moving," Katara remarked.

"Agreed, I do not want to meet whatever made that." They all started to walk off but Sokka stayed for another moment.

"I hope Aang's ok."

"Giant mushroom! Mushy giant friend!" Sokka yelled as he waved his arms like a man possessed.

The walk they went on was long and arduous with the sun beating down on them. Theron lasting as long as he did thanks to training for extreme situations, but the kids weren't doing so well. Even he had to admit he was starting to feel it too. The heat of the day had passed and the sweet cool of night was just starting to come on. It was sunset by the time that they felt a shadow pass over them. Aang landed in a perfect three-point landing with some kicked up dust. Katara walked over to him. "I'm sorry, Aang. I know it's hard for you right now but we need to focus on getting out of here," Katara tried fruitlessly to comfort him.

"What's the point, we won't survive out here without Appa," Aang said in surrender. "We all know it."

"Come on, Aang. We can do this if we work together," Katara tried to reassure him. "Right, Toph?"

"As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothing," Toph reported.

"Sokka, any ideas how to find Ba Sing Se?"

"Why don't we ask the circle birds?" Sokka replied as he pointed to four circling vultures that had... stingers?

'Ok, I have no idea if that is the cactus juice causing that, the heat, or if that's really there,' Theron thought.

"You know, if you're hungry, and have no aversion to eating... whatever in the Nine Hells those are, I could shoot them down," Theron offered, taking aim at one.

She saw that everyone was tired, even Theron who was hiding it remarkably well all things considering. And he was the one wearing a coat meant for colder weather. Katara gathered whatever leadership strength she had left and announced, "We are getting out of this desert, and we are doing it together. Aang, get up. Everyone, hold hands." She grabbed Aang's staff which he held, Toph grabbed Aang, she held on to Sokka, and Theron followed right behind the drugged out Sokka. "We have to."

Hours of walking passed and many dunes were crossed. Eventually, Katara announced, "Everyone, let's stop here for the night."

Everyone groaned in relief and fell down in exhaustion. Toph asked, "Katara is there any water left?"

"This is the last of it, everyone can have a little drink," she replied as she split it amongst them.

However, Momo jumped through the bent water causing it to scatter, to which Sokka despaired, "Momo, no! You've killed us all!"

"No, he hasn't," she said as she pulled the water back up from the sand, all without the sand particles in it.

"Right, bending," drugged out Sokka stated as the water was returned to the water skin and was handed to Toph.

"Sokka, let me see the things you got from the library."

Sokka recoiled as if he had been accused of murder, holding the bag he had been carrying the entire time as if he was hiding a grand secret. "What!? I didn't steal anything. Who told you that?" He then pointed and accused Momo, of all people, and accused, "It was you! You ratted me out!"

Playing the part of the straight man Katara responded with, "Sokka, I was there." She then took the satchel of scrolls away from him and walked to the end of the dune.

"It doesn't matter," Aang despaired once again. "None of those will tell us where Appa is."

"No, but we can figure out which way Ba Sing Se is," Katara replied. "We can use the stars to guide us. That way we can travel by night when it is cool and rest during the day. Just... try and get some sleep. We'll start again in a few hours."

Everyone started to hunker down for the night and Theron turned to BB and instructed, "Tune your sensors to look out for any hostile creatures."

BB nodded and took the position of watchdog on the top of the dune. Theron then removed his bag and took out the Holocron that he had hidden inside. He picked it up and sat cross-legged on the sand. He levitated it with the Force and Katara noticed that. "What's that?" she asked as she got ready to sleep.

"An old Jedi Holocron," he replied as he unlocked it like he had been shown long ago. He saw her confusion and continued, "They're mass repositories of knowledge, some of which are very old. This one is well over three thousand years old and belongs to one of my ancestors."

The gatekeeper appeared and Katara remarked in amazement, "I've never seen such a thing before."

"I doubt you have. They're highly protected and kept away from prying eyes. Even then you have to know how to unlock them and the gatekeeper has to find you worthy of the knowledge inside."

"Worthy?"

"Yes. Some of them are particularly picky on who accesses the information and what level of it they can access."

"How are you floating that, by the way?"

"I'm using the Force."

"The Force?"

"Yes, the Force. It's been known by many names over the millennia. It's primarily divided between two sides, the Light, and the Dark; once also known as the Ashla and Bogan. Many references call it the Force, the binds the universe together and helps keep the delicate balance of chaos and harmony in check. There are those that are sensitive to this field and can manipulate it. These people are called Force-sensitives. For as long as many can remember they've been around, old legends say around fifty thousand years or so when they lived on Tython, a planet whose very existence was kept in check by the Force-sensitive beings on it by they themselves keeping an inner balance."

"Wait, planet?" she asked in realization.

"That's right, I'm not from this planet. How did you think my mechanical friend over there was built? I have strange weapons and powers that you can't really explain that don't belong here."

"That's just the cactus juice talking."

"That stuff wore off hours ago. Eliminate the impossible and only the possible remains." She seemed to think quite deeply about it. "Get some sleep, I have something I need to do first."

She nodded and went off to sleep. Theron didn't need the Force to tell him that Aang was still awake, but he didn't care. He needed guidance. "Grandmaster, I need your advice once more," he said to the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper responded, "What is the knowledge you seek?"

"I wish to learn the art of Battle Meditation."

"Battle Meditation is a dangerous art to learn. Why do you need to learn it?"

"My current traveling companions and I are in a bit of a precarious situation. We're in the middle of a desert, almost like Tatooine, and we're on the last of our water. If I can use Battle Meditation to get us out of the desert we can part ways, but until then I am but a stranger to this world."

"I understand that the situation you're in is rather dire, but a clear and prepared mind are needed in order to learn Battle Meditation without feeling the temptation to fall to the Dark Side."

"Then what do I do, Grandmaster?"

"Meditate. Let the Force lead you to your answers."

Theron sighed but replied. "Thank you, Grandmaster Shan."

"Listen to the Force, my descendant," the gatekeeper replied before deactivating the Holocron, which landed in Theron's outstretched hand. He placed the Holocron back in his bag and sat cross-legged in the sand and began to meditate.

He reached out to the Force and felt the creatures around them. Most kept their distance but some bolder ones were scared off by BB emitting some sparks from his welding tool. The Force seemed to be pulling him to the east, just south of where the sandbender had pointed earlier in the day. He did feel the Force give him a slight boost of well-needed energy before he disconnected himself and stopped, feeling as though he did need some sleep as the last sleep he got was being passed out in a cockpit of a fighter. He bundled up his jacket to use as a makeshift pillow and drifted off to sleep for a power nap as he had done many times in the cockpit of a fighter or freighter before.

He woke up to the sound of Katara waking Sokka and Toph up. "Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud, now it just tastes like sand. I never thought I would miss the taste of mud so much," Toph commented.

Katara walked over to wake Aang but he interjected before she could touch him. "I'm awake. I couldn't sleep," he stated with almost no emotion.

"Well, we need to get moving if we want to get out of this sand pit," said Katara.

Aang sat up and his attitude immediately changed from borderline depressed to excessively happy and shouted, "Appa!"

"Appa?" Sokka asked. "But why would Princess Yue need him? She's the moon, she flies by herself." That was by far the most bizarre thing that Theron had heard all day.

"It's just a cloud," Katara revealed, crushing Aang. "Wait, a cloud!" She held out her water skin to Aang. "Here, fly up and bend the water in that cloud into my pouch."

Aang snatched the water skin with attitude and opened his glider before flying up into the air. "He's not a morning person, is he?" Theron asked in an attempt to brighten the mood. It failed miserably.

Aang flew through the air and made two passes at the cloud before landing once more and handed the skin over, once again with attitude. "Wow, there's hardly any in here," Katara observed.

Aang exploded, "I'm sorry, ok!? It's a desert cloud! I did all I could. What's everyone else doing?" He pointed his staff at Katara, "What are you doing?!"

She sighed and replied, "Trying to keep everyone together." She opened her star map and continued, just wanting to get out of this mess, "Let's just get moving. We need to head in this direction." She started to walk and the rest of the group followed.

The cool of the night helped with the heat as it allowed them to walk a longer distance than in the day without being as exhausted. Theron kept towards the back with BB and Aang, more or less to pick up the rear. As they walked Theron decided that he had enough of Aang's attitude towards his friends.

"You should cherish the time you have with your friends," Theron said to him. "The next thing you know, they could be gone and you'll be left with regrets that you'll never be able to take back."

"What do you know about friends?" Aang spat.

"For a while, I was stationed at a base with my squadron. We were so close were like my brothers and sisters. One day, a routine mission went horribly wrong. I lost all eleven of my squadron members that day to elite fighter pilots. I had an argument with my best friend and I had planned on reconciling with him after the mission, that never happened. About two years ago I was in the middle of a call with a good friend of mine who lived on a planet called Alderaan. Mid transmission it cut out as I was talking to her. It was later that week I found out that the entire planet was destroyed by the Empire." Remembering lost friends brought up a sadness he had kept capped for a while. "Cherish your friends. Reconcile with them while you still can. It's better to live with no regrets than with them."

"Whatever," Aang resigned.

Theron sighed, 'He'll learn one day. Hopefully, before it's too late.'

They continued to walk for the next while, Theron had no idea if it was for a half-hour or a few hours as the sun was still behind the horizon until Toph toppled over. "Ugh! I'm so sick and tired of not seeing where I'm going! And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert!?" Toph yelled in understandable pain.

"A boat?" Katara asked as she ran over to the wood jutting out of the sand.

"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations," she replied as she rubbed her foot.

Aang let loose and unleashed a slash of air which kicked up a bunch of sand in a cloud. When it cleared, and Theron lowered his arm, one of the sandbender sailers that Theron had inadvertently destroyed was shown to be completely undamaged before them. Katara confirmed that as much as she examined it.

"Look, it's got some kind of compass on it!" she remarked. "I bet it can point us out of here! Aang, you can bend us a breeze and we can sail it. We're going to make it." Sokka, still drugged out of his mind, was giggling inanely as he showed his 'handiwork' of burying Momo in the sand.

It didn't take long to get Sokka on the glider as well as everyone else. Although, Theron had to hold BB in place to keep him from falling off. They eventually came across a rock which definitely wasn't north, but the magnetic center of the desert. Toph was ecstatic, primarily because she would be finally able to see again. They had decided to climb to the top of the rock to get a better layout of the land and to see if they could see the edge of the desert, but if it was the center all the would be able to see would be sand, sand, and yet more sand. BB elected to stay at the bottom of the rock with the glider as he wouldn't be able to climb the rock.

The climb took longer than anyone would have liked as the sun was already starting to rise. As everyone was looking at the horizon and rising sun. Theron unslung his 19X and used the scope to look out into the distance to see what he could. Toph had showed her joy in the new development of solid ground by doing a stone angel. You know, like a snow angel but with stone instead, because she could bend earth.

"Ahhh, solid ground," she elicited with glee.

"Bad news, I can't see anything that we haven't been seeing for the last day. Loads of sand," Theron reported.

The kids started to walk towards the caves that looked like they had been forcibly carved into the rock face. He slung his rifle back on his back but drew a deactivated lightsaber into his hand, feeling as though it was more appropriate for something. There was a small tickle... no buzz in the Force eliciting danger.

"I think my head is starting to clear out the cactus juice," Sokka stated, more than likely his first coming down from a high. "And look!" he said right before eating something that looked like honey but smelled like rotten eggs. To which he had the appropriate response of spitting it out. "It tastes like rotten penguin meat! Ugh, I feel woozy."

"You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day, and then you just lick something you find stuck to the wall of a cave?" Katara angrily asked her brother, understandably so.

"I have a natural curiosity."

"I don't think this is a normal cave," Toph said with her hand on the wall. "This was carved by something."

"Yeah, look at the shape," Aang added.

"There's something buzzing in here," Toph continued her report. "Something that's coming for us!"

Immediately, they started to run for the exit to where Theron was already ready with his lightsaber. He ignited it with the signature sound of a snap-hiss that many around the galaxy had now associated with the Sith and the Empire. He immediately sliced a buzzard-wasp in half vertically, the two halves landing in two heaps behind him.

More came at him and he gave them the same treatment as the one he had sliced before. They learned to stay away from him quite quickly and started to go for his companions. One grabbed Momo and started to fly away and Aang lost it, heading right after it on his glider.

"Come on, we're going down," Katara ordered.

"No argument with you there, sister," Theron agreed.

They made their way down the mountain, killing or knocking more of the beasts away. They made it to the base of the rock and Theron had switched from his lightsaber to his E-11, picking off the beasts with pinpoint accuracy, allowing the Force to guide his shots; even managing to hit one without looking off to his side. More and more came and Theron, and the group knew that they were outnumbered. Theron was just about to dive into the Dark Side to summon a storm of Force Lightning when the ground erupted in fountains of sand, surrounding the beasts, forcing them back to their nests.

When the dust cleared there were three more sand gliders on the other side as well as a small militia sized group of sandbenders if the attire was anything to go by. And the sand fountains. There was veritable silence until Aang landed, looking ready to kill; something that Theron was ready to do in self-defense but Aang was of the murderous sort of look.

"What are you doing on our land with a sandbender sailer?" the bearded leader asked. "From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hummee tribe."

"We found the sailer abandoned in the desert," Katara replied. "We're traveling with the Avatar. Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba Sing Se."

"You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand-sailer?" A younger man accused.

"Funny how to jump to theft yourself, pal," Theron yelled.

"Quiet, Gashuin. No one accused our people of anything. If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality," the leader stated to the younger man.

"Sorry, father," the son relented.

"I recognize the son's voice," Toph stated quietly. "He's the one that stole Appa."

"Are you sure?" Katara asked.

"He did seem to jump immediately to accuse us of theft when he heard the word bison," Theron added.

"I'm sure, I never forget a voice," Toph concluded.

Aang stormed forward and accused, primarily pointing to the son, "You stole Appa! Where is he? What did you do to him?"

"They're lying, they're thieves!" the son accused back.

"Funny, once again how you're the only one arguing for us stealing anything," Theron prodded. "Have something to hide?"

Aang lashed out and let loose a wave of air that completely decimated one of the sandbenders' sailers. "Where is my bison?" he asked in a no holds barred tone. "You tell me where he is, now!" He let loose another slash of air that decimated the second of three sailers.

"What did you do?" the leader asked, turning to the son.

"It wasn't me," the son tried to defend himself, quite unconvincingly.

"You said to put a muzzle on him!" Toph added.

"Not helping our situation," Theron hissed to the girl.

"You muzzled Appa!" Aang yelled as his blue arrow tattoos and eyes started to glow white. He decimated the last of the three sailers with another air slash.

The pieces landed in splinters of wood. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it belonged to the Avatar," the son groveled.

"Tell me where Appa is!" Aang yelled in a tone that sounded like a man possessed by otherworldly beings.

"I traded him to some merchants! He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now. They were going to sell him there. Please, we'll escort you out of the desert. We'll help however we can!"

A sand tornado started to whip around Aang as Theron felt a rush in the Force, the same rush he had felt when probing Aang with the Force back in the library. "We need to get out of here," Sokka stated as even Theron's survival instincts were telling him to get out of there. Katara remained though right behind Aang while everyone ran to what they considered a safe distance. Even BB-1 joined Theron at his side not wanting to be anywhere near that.

Theron took aim with his blaster and set it to stun. But before he could fire, Katara did the gutsiest thing that Theron saw on this entire crazy planet. She walked right into the storm and took Aang's arm and embraced him in a tender hug, something that he desperately needed. The sand finally died down to show him crying in the arms of his friend.

BB rolled up to him and beeped softly, "I've decoded the star maps you transmitted to me. I have an idea where we are."

Theron turned to his recent friend and replied, "Show me."

 **To be continued...?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go. Another pilot done. Now, this has to be one of my longest pilots due to the fact I had to pretty much transcribe two episodes of Avatar, a series that has a lot of dialogue and well-told exposition. I've decided to forgo my normal endnotes as this was one long pilot and I want to get to my reasons as to why it's here instead of being broken up into several chapters for a chaptered story. Also, cliffhangers, gotta love them in these pilots.**

 **The reason for the pilot is because I want to just get it out there. I would need to really plan out the changes that Theron's appearance would make on this planet, that being he is from space and of a higher technological civilization. How would he cope with the only advanced being with him being a droid that's really annoying at times like I can be in real life. I sort of went self-aware there, if you didn't notice. The other reason is I am unsure how I would want a pairing to end up. Obviously, I want Katara and Aang to end up as well as Suki to be with Sokka and Mai with Zuko. Who would I pair Theron with that wouldn't make it awkward? Do I choose an SW girl OC or someone from the Avatar universe near his age? I don't know.**

 **Things I want to explore in this: possible romance with an enemy within the Fire Nation. How much does a Force-sensitive with a Holocron containing millennia of knowledge make a difference in the war? None? A lot? I don't know. Will he make it back to the Alliance? Will the Empire find him first? All of this and more if I decide to continue this.**

 **That's all I have for now. Stay tuned for whatever I have next.**

 **See you next time!**


	20. A HP x Maid Dragon pilot

**So I've been watching "** _ **Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid**_ **" for a few weeks now and I have been thoroughly entertained by it. To those of you that don't know of this anime, here's a brief explanation of the series: a woman by the name of Kobayashi goes out drunk one night and the next day gets a dragon by the name of Tohru to be her maid after being nice to her. Eventually, other dragons find them as well and it just becomes more and more funny as the series goes on. That's all I can really say without really giving away major spoilers. The one thing I can say is that these dragons are magical and can shapeshift into cute human girls with some dragon traits like tails and/or horns.**

 **So I saw this and asked myself, "How can I cross this over with** _ **Harry Potter**_ **or other franchises?" The thing is, I like Tohru, Kanna, and others being with Kobayashi so I had to think of a workaround for this series to work with HP. This it hit me, why not make known dragons in HP also into magical beings that can also shapeshift into girls (should they want to, of course)? And that's where this idea came from.**

 **Official title I've chosen: "Mr. Potter's Dragon Maid".**

 **Rating: T to T+ as there are insinuations of "perverted" thoughts going on in the dragon maid's head. Nothing explicit here as I don't want to be breaking ToS or anything. Plus, it is supposed to be a comedy.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling and Warner Brothers.** _ **Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid**_ **belongs to FUNimation, Coolyoushinja, and a few others.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

XxXxXxX

Harry had not had an easy life. There was the fact that an evil asshat of a wizard murdered his mother and father, as well as attempting to murder him when he was a toddler. Then he lived the next ten years of his life under the totalitarian rule of the Dursleys. He had come terms with it at a young age, but he knew something was off. He cooked and cleaned for them, vainly hoping vainly to earn their praise, even only once, but that never happened. All he ever earned from them was their scorn and ire. They didn't physically abuse him, outside of Dudley and his friends. Vernon allowed Dudley to get away with it as he could write it off as 'boys being boys' whereas he would be arrested if it were him, so he lived vicariously through his son. Petunia was of the more verbal kind of person and wouldn't lay a finger on him; to her, he was like the plague.

Of course, he finally learned of his true heritage when he was eleven and started his education at Hogwarts, for better or for worse. Five of the seven years were spent where said asshat wizard tried to kill him and one where he thought his godfather, deceased now, was out to kill him. He retook his seventh year after the war with Voldemort in order to keep his mind busy. It hurt to think of friends and family killed all because of a prophecy that may not have been true in the first place.

After he graduated with honors he enrolled in the Auror Academy and finished with his training early thanks to the spells he learned by himself when he was on the run during his unofficial seventh year. The job kept him busy, but he felt… empty inside doing it. He learned that his father was once an honorable Auror with a sense of justice. Like Harvey Dent or one of those prime time police officers on TV. It felt like he was replacing his father, and not in a good way.

He was going out with Ginny at the time and many compared them to James and Lily. When he was at work it felt like the Ministry was using him like an attack dog to take down 'dark wizards' and other enemies of state rather than have him protect the common citizen. So, at the age of nineteen, he resigned from his Auror position. After some thinking at the top of Big Ben, he decided to leave the Wizarding World entirely, well at least when talking about a career. He returned home to discover that Ginny, his girlfriend of almost two years had been cheating on him with Dean Thomas and some other random Joe that he didn't even know. To say this devastated him was an understatement. Someone that he had shared intimate details with and shared an intimate physical connection with betrayed him by sleeping with other men.

He threw all three of them on the street without letting them get dressed first (i.e. on the street completely in public and in the nude), with their clothes following a few seconds after onto the sidewalk out of his apartment window. After that he threw himself into his studies and discovered from Petunia that she had been given a safe deposit box key by his mother that unlocked a box in a local bank that gave him a letter and routing number of an account that his mother had made as a college fund in the case that her son didn't want to get a career in the Wizarding World at all, after all the job market wasn't very varied.

He did get himself into college, but it wasn't easy as his 'diploma' from Hogwarts didn't mean squat out in the wider world and had to take remedial classes to compensate for his lack of a non-magical education past age eleven. There were schools that helped with this, but you really had to look for them. Hermione got him in contact with an Australian school that did just that. One year later of hard study and he was in college.

He didn't get close with anyone romantically during his four years of higher education. He had a few months long flings with women that ended with little fanfare. He found work at an IT company as a server manager that paid quite well in the Miami area. Despite what some may joke about Florida, it was sunny and warm and was a complete 180 from cold, dreary Scotland. Don't get him wrong, the Highlands were a beautiful place, but cloudy weather and being cold a majority of the year made it drearier than it should have been.

Right around 2000 Harry noticed something about him was off. He was closing in on thirty years of age but still looked eighteen. He took a sabbatical for a month to visit with his old friend Hermione who was then in the running to be one of the few female Ministers of Magic, a position that was majoritively male for centuries. She and him, with the help of a few others who were kept out of the entire loop, did research in private and discovered that he was no longer physically aging. Harry had to look back into his past to figure out what could cause his lack of aging. The only objects he could think of was touching Flamel's Philosopher's Stone, but he only held it for a few minutes; the only other objects he could think of were the three Hallows. But two of them he no longer held possession of. The cloak was safely inside of a fire safe, he snapped the Elder wand after repairing his old, damaged wand with it, and he tossed the stone into the Thames after saying one final goodbye to the dead.

After much speculation, and taking a shot in the dark by looking at skin cells under a high-powered microscope, among many other slightly invasive tests, that he wasn't aging physically at all and that some kind of eldritch, or at least arcane, unknown magic, had attached itself to his cells keeping him at his current state of youthfulness. Hermione swore herself to secrecy lest the Unspeakables catch word of this magical phenomenon as they did tend to have laxer morals in comparison to the common wizard. Harry then went back to his home and job and continued to work inside it until the company he worked for pulled some shady deals and became bankrupt, forcing him to move and get a new job. For whatever reason, he was compelled to move to Japan for work.

He got a nice little apartment that wasn't much bigger than a bedroom, sitting room/kitchen/dining room, and a decently sized bathroom. He would have expanded it with magic, but it wasn't like he owned the place. The apartment manager reserved the legal right to enter his apartment at any time which meant magical expansion was out of the question. Sure, he could use magic to confound the manager, but that would probably set off some kind of alarm somewhere for the misuse of magic against a no-maj; something that wasn't illegal (but was frowned upon) in Britain and was being tracked by the new Ministry officials in a department called the 'Adult Misuse of Magic' to be the opposite side of the coin of the 'Department of Child Magic Misuse' put into place by the former pro-Dumbledore voting bloc. Currently, due to the still mass majority of Pureblood elitists still in power, like Malfoy and his ilk, the law could not be enforced more than a monetary penalty that varied in amounts based on the level of offense. Honestly, Harry didn't want to tempt fate or anything here in Japan with their government, something that most of the world was clueless about.

The United States had their Magical Congress that worked more with their non-magical counterpart than most other magical governments out there; the British Ministry of Magic was notorious for using less than ethical methods in dealing with muggles that saw magic or even those that heard of it outside of urban legends and myth. But these were two ends of the extreme.

It was a new day through. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. Harry woke up the same way he had for the last year or so he had been working inside of Japan on his worker's visa: tired. Being pulled from Morpheus's domain was never a fun thing. He woke up to an annoying alarm clock that was of the typical annoying beeping kind, the kind of which he wishes to pound into the ground like that Saitama guy in One Punch Man. Oh wait, he could. He could just fix it with a quick repair spell.

He threw the annoying alarm clock against the wall which shattered with an ear-pleasing sound. He groaned as he sat up and stretched. He felt a head-pounding headache, which obviously meant that he had been out drinking the other night, but as there wasn't an attractive woman naked in bed next to him he didn't pick anyone up for a one-night stand. He picked up his wand from the nightstand and incanted towards the broken alarm clock, " _Repario_." The clock quickly reassembled itself on the floor. " _Accio_ clock," he incanted. The alarm clock flew into his hand, to which he set on the nightstand.

He messed up his hair and rubbed his eyes as he walked towards the bathroom for his morning shower. A mass majority of the time inside it was just spent allowing the hot water to cascade down his head and back. When he got out the mirror was completely fogged up and the room steamy. He wiped off some of the steam off of the mirror revealing his face. His emerald eyes that glowed with an inner, unexplained power that everyone he met outside the Wizarding World wrote off as just the light playing tricks on them. His borderline untamable hair that could only be controlled with an excessive amount of hair product that would suffocate most sane people stuck out at odd angles. He quickly combed it to get it into a somewhat manageable state. He sighed when it got at least arranged in a way that would allow him to see, but it still looked like a rat's nest compared to the rest of the natural population whose hair was straightened for the most part. He examined himself in the mirror and still saw that he still hadn't aged a day since he turned eighteen. It was certainly annoying for him to do anything legal as they all required a form of ID whether it be drinking alcohol, explaining to the police who didn't like school skippers (truancy), etc. It was so annoying that he had to get a charmed bracelet that looked like a Fitbit to glamour his appearance to look older, primarily in his thirties as that's what he was supposed to be; well, technically almost thirty-five, but that was no matter. Luckily, this was taken care of before he was hired on.

He put it on and watched as his appearance slipped from a youthful eighteen to an older thirty-five. He finished dressing and locked the house before apparating to a back alley that he'd used during his time in order to avoid taking public transportation. Plus, it was easier and faster to apparate rather than to walk extremely long distances or to spend money on taxis, buses, or trains. Although, he did have a small fund for that if he had to.

He walked into the office building and took the stairs. What? He needed to get some exercise for the day somehow. He entered the individual office and clocked in via one of the many terminals on the wall near the exit. He walked into his office next to the company's server room and logged in for the day into his Windows Surface computer. Say what you will about the Windows platform, but the Surface series of tablets using Server was useful for doing his job. He spent the first few hours looking through logs from the previous day he didn't get through and found something that annoyed him.

He marched into the main workroom and blew a conjured Naval whistle. "Your attention please!" Harry announced his presence. "Would the bluetard that keeps downloading gay porn through our internet please stop it? I know who you are and am tired of reimaging your machine. I don't care what you do at home, but here please try to keep your internet activity related to your work. Thank you." He then walked out of the room leaving a stunned crowd behind him.

The rest of the day passed in relative silence. He had to plan the new images for the machines in the office as Microsoft decided to release their new comprehensive monthly update. One would think that resetting computers every time they were turned on or restarted would be a bad thing, especially when all data not included on the image loaded is deleted, but all company employees saved their data for work on a network drive. It was definitely more efficient rather than having to manage a bunch of different drives on different computers; that and a lot easier.

The rest of the day proceeded without a hitch or without anything really of noteworthiness. He ate lunch at a local restaurant that did takeout orders. When the end of the day rolled around he closed up shop making sure that the new images were pushed upon next boot for all the computers in the company. By the time that he finished setting up the tasks for the next day on a to-do list he was the last one out of the office; not something that was particularly surprising considering he had to plan things in advance to protect the company and its assets.

As he left through the lobby he heard a few of the workers from the other office talking to one from the one he worked for. "There's the gaijin that works in our office," one stated.

"Gaijin? Why's he working at your company?" the other asked.

"He's apparently some kind of networking or cyber security expert or something. I don't really pay attention to his job description."

"Why'd they hire a foreigner instead of a native Japanese?"

"Because he's damn good at his job and can understand every word you're saying," Harry said casually as he walked by. "And quit downloading gay porn at work." The office worker's eyes shot wide open as his friend he was talking to looked at him oddly. Harry knew that this was not the one who was doing the downloading, but his inner Marauder needed to get back at him.

"I didn't download anything!" the man shouted in anger with his fist clenched as Harry walked away.

Harry chuckled as he walked away to his apparation spot and apparated back to his apartment. Harry guessed that the two tried to follow him only to find an empty alleyway. He looked around his fairly messy apartment as he reappeared in it. Beer bottles and cans were scattered all over the place. Manga that he had been reading over the last few months lay on the ground in an unorganized mess. He had several textbooks from a magical university's library that he had still not read through despite having it over three months.

He sighed as he walked into the small kitchen and cooked dinner, one of the few skills he was grateful that the Dursleys had him learn, despite the fact that Vernon and Dudley ate like… "Jabba the Hutt," Harry said aloud without realizing it. He shrugged as it was just him living by himself and he wasn't in public. Well, he had Skyped with Dudley recently and it seemed like he was taking his diet plan still to heart years after he had apologized to Harry for being an ass. Vernon… well, he wasn't doing too great. It seemed as though Vernon's poor eating habits and lack of exercise had come back to haunt him in an almost karmic situation.

He ate dinner in front of his TV and headed to bed shortly thereafter. His dreams had always been filled with past regrets and tonight was no different. Tonight he was re-experiencing the first of the three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament. He walked into the improvised arena and saw the looks of those around him, some were worried for him, but there were those like Malfoy that wanted to see him die humiliated. He tried to look for his friends in the audience and only saw Hermione out there in front looking as worried as one could be, he couldn't see Ron anywhere in the stands.

Harry looked on to see the massive Hungarian Horntail dragon that was poised ready to pounce but was too far away to really do anything as of yet. To say it was scary was an understatement. It was pants wetting, brick shitting terror. The rest of the event happened like it did back in real life. He tried to get close sneakily but was chased off by the dragon throwing flames at him, forcing him to retreat. He then summoned his Firebolt broom with the _Accio_ charm, allowing him to get close to the dragon's clutch and false egg that he was forced to collect. He still managed to collect the false egg and managed to barely outmaneuver the dragon. However, in this dream where the dragon flew off, it had a look in its eye. A look that said, 'thank you'.

His eyes snapped open to hear the sound of his annoying alarm clock. Once more he smashed the alarm clock and repaired it once more, setting it back where it belonged. He went about his morning routine and got ready for work. He filled his travel coffee mug with the sweet brew (with a little extra kick of pepper-up added to it) and opened the door as someone rang the doorbell. He paused as what he saw sort of didn't register for a few moments. In front of him was a Hungarian Horntail and not just any Hungarian Horntail, but the same that he had faced many years ago. It was currently leaned up against the third story balcony with its clawed hands gripping the railing.

The dragon then lets loose not a fire breath that would have absolutely fried him, as there was a reason dragons were so dangerous (even to wizards) but a loud growl that sounded a lot like the one that the T-rex in Jurassic Park let loose. Well, it was also safe to say that Harry's ears were ringing from the sheer loudness of the growl. Breath that smelled like burned meat screamed past him at hurricane force speeds. Any of the papers or magazines that had been stacked by the door had been whipped up and blown back into the apartment. When the dragon was done Harry summoned his wand into his hand, but before he could do anything a translucent, neon sign-like circle with runic symbols appeared in front of the dragon's jaw.

There was a glow of white light that surrounded the dragon and the now glowing beast's form shifted and morphed as it coalesced into a human shape right in front of him. The glowing faded to reveal a girl not much older than him… well, physically that is. She had brown hair that flowed down her back like chocolate waterfalls; see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for reference. She had two sets of horns jutting out of the side of her skull in a swept back fashion. Her eyes were colored the same shade and shine that gold had to it when the light hit it just right; however, there was one thing that made them noteworthy: the pupils were not circular like all humans were, but slitted like that of a reptile, cat…, or dragon. He noted that she was not naked, thank Merlin, but she was dressed in what he would consider a skimpier version of the girls' uniform for Hogwarts, just without the cloak over the top that all students wore on the first and last days of the school year, or during the winter. She was also quite the looker with an attractive body that many men (and some women) would ogle happily. There was one last physical trait that she had and he considered curious: she had a tail coming from under the skirt.

She posed in a way that resembled the pose that Usagi from Sailor Moon did in the show. Don't judge him, his honorary niece Angelique (Fleur and Bill's firstborn daughter) loved that show growing up and he could count the times he had been forced to watch it when he visited or babysat her. This time together, as well as having no blood relation, caused her to gain a bit of a… unhealthy attachment with him. It caused quite a few awkward moments between him and her when she started looking less like a little girl and more like a young woman. Some of the attempts she had made in an attempt to gain his attention were sort of creepy (especially for someone looking on from the outside), especially when these attempts moved out of a playful, innocent stage into full blown sexual suggestions both overt and covert alike. Don't get him wrong, she was a beautiful woman, but he had no desires to be masochistically be beaten by Bill; although, he had a feeling that Fleur had no issue with it. Now that he thought about it, he probably wasn't helping as he did call her 'Little Cherub' until she was about ten.

The dragon girl then pulled him from his long ramblings by shouting, "Tada!"

All Harry could really say in this situation was, "What?"

"Did I not astound you? Are you amazed, bewildered?" she asked in a pompous way that sounded a lot like Malfoy did back during Hogwarts schooling.

"More like confused," he bluntly replied. Who are you?"

"Don't you recognize me?"

"No. Should I?" he asked as he cocked his head to the side.

She fell forward in that comedic anime fashion that Harry assumed no one actually did. "You really didn't recognize me?" she sadly asked.

"I don't know any girls that can transform into dragons, so no."

She seemed to visually deflate, some of the bounce that her hair had seemed to… flatten. He had seen this kind of thing somewhere before… but where? "You don't remember me? And I thought we had so much fun playing tag years ago," she asked.

"Tag?"

"Yeah," she sniffled, "you were on a broom flying around and I was trying to catch you."

"Trying to catch me? What are you going on about-?" It was then it hit him. The only time that been chased on a broom, outside of Quidditch, was when he was chased by the dragon during the Triwizard Tournament. He took a step back, pointed at the dragon-girl, and shouted, "You!"

She perked up at that and with a smile shouted with glee, "You do remember me!"

"You're a dragon, but dragons don't have that kind of magic!" Harry shouted mostly to himself.

"Well, dragons have a different kind of magic. How else do you think we breathe fire? Magic!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Harry placed his hand to his chin in thought, "Well, I suppose that makes sense. In a way." He kept going along this line of logic before it hit him, "Wait, what are you doing here anyway?"

She stood triumphantly in a way that looked like she had just conquered the Huns or something similar in difficulty. "It took me a long time to find you! Did you know you're very elusive? Anyway, I wished to come find you to thank you for freeing and playing tag with me years ago," she thankfully said.

"Thank me?" he asked.

She shook her head enthusiastically, "Yes! Yes! I am indebted to you and wish to repay that debt."

"You don't have to pay me back, just do whatever it is you want to and that will be good enough for me," Harry waved in an attempt to get rid of her.

"Oh, but I can't do that. We dragons have a code of honor to uphold. If we're helped by another then we are in their debt!" she replied cheerfully.

Harry pinched his nose and sighed. "Ok, what will it take for me to wipe the debt away?"

"I want to serve you!" she chipperly replied.

Harry had to pause a moment to process what she just said, all the while her tail moving to the left and to the right slowly as if she were a dog. "I'm sorry, what?" he asked.

"I want to serve you. You can use me however you like!"

Harry's mind was flooded with inappropriate thoughts and he had to physically shake his head to clear them out. "I can't in good conscience do that."

"But what if I cleaned your house for you?" she asked hopefully.

"Cleaned my house?"

"Yeah!" she replied as she peeked behind him. "It looks really messy and needs to be cleaned."

"You're going to keep following me until I say 'yes', aren't you?" Harry asked while he pinched the bridge of his nose once more.

She nodded enthusiastically and replied, "Yes!"

He sighed and finally relented after thinking on how annoying it would be with her following him around. "Fine. You can clean my house."

She jumped in the air and shouted with glee, "Yay! I'll be happy to serve as your maid, master."

"Master?" Harry asked carefully as he didn't like how that sounded.

"You are the master of the house, right?"

"I guess so."

"Then you're my master!"

He sighed once more. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Albion! And I look forward to serving you," she said with a slight bow while still keeping her smile.

'What have I gotten myself into?' Harry asked himself as she rushed past him into his apartment.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, another pilot done. Now wasn't that a nice little 4k pilot?**

 **Now, as you can see I did take quite a few liberties with post-Hogwarts events; I even threw in the "cheating Ginny" fanfic trope that I've seen many people do before, myself included. Hopefully, you guys all liked it. Now I don't have any numbered notes this time, like the previous installment; however, I do have my comments on what it will take to move this pilot forward into a chaptered story like the others I've done.**

 **First of all, I would have to figure out everything. A small pilot where I start it off isn't hard, it's doing the rest of the story. Especially as** _ **Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid**_ **is a comedy, I would have to write comedy in and make it flow organically, something that isn't easily done in both fanfiction as well as inside of written stories instead of manga or comic books.**

 **The second thing is if I will be introducing the other dragons to Harry and Albion. I mean I want to include Kanna as she is the cutest dragon girl ever to exist. *Kanna-chan gushing intensifies*. Another thing tied to this is do I introduce more dragons to Harry that are OCs?**

 **The last thing I would have to plan out and think about is if there is going to be any romances in this story at all or if it will strictly be comedy, for the most part. If I do consider romances, it won't be Kobayashi as she has her own things going on with her coworker as well as Tohru as it is definitely obvious that Tohru has a thing for her.**

 **One addendum to the previous, therefore not making it the last, is do all dragons in the HP-verse have magic like Tohru and the others? How do I implement that?**

 **Only once I can answer these questions can I really start to write this fic in its entirety.**

 **All I have left to say is I look forward to seeing you guys all next time!**


	21. A SG-1 x Familiar of Zero pilot

**So I had one of the most interesting of ideas.**

 **So I was doing some mulling around here and found a Familiar of Zero and Halo crossover and thought it was pretty decent. So then I asked myself, "why don't I do something like that?" After doing some thinking and concluded that I should try something similar but by using the Stargate property. Then I had to get started thinking about which point that I would want this to take place in as I do want to use either** _ **Daedalus**_ **or** _ **Odyssey**_ **(or another** _ **Daedalus**_ **-class battlecruiser) in some capacity as they are two of my favorite ships in sci-fi. Of course, as this is a fanfiction story I do have to retcon some things in.**

 **The first of these retcons being how I'm going to get Saito Hiraga on one of these ships in the first place. In this instance making him a second generation American makes the most sense, i.e. his parents emigrated to the US and he's the first in their family to be a natural born American. He enlists at the age of eighteen and becomes a very highly skilled fighter pilot in the Air Force, gaining the attention of the SGC which gets him a place in a 302.**

 **The second is that I am going to make Louise older as well, but not by much. The reasoning for this is so that there isn't a 4+ year gap between Saito and canon Louise. So, instead of her being in a magic high school, she will be entering a magic college where the entrance exam is to summon a familiar. Many of her classmates from high school are attending this college and know her history for being a "Zero" when it comes to her magic aptitude. This brings both the summoning ritual, Louise being a "Zero", and her still being in school learning magic.**

 **Now I am aware some of these things are unrealistic, but these are retcons and I am suspending some suspicions of disbelief in this story. So just run with it.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my laptop. The** _ **Stargate**_ **franchise belongs to MGM and NBC Universal and** _ **The Familiar of Zero**_ **belongs to Media Factory, Noboru Yamaguchi, and Sentai Filmworks. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

" **Over radios or communications equipment."**

 **[ Suggested music content ]**

"[Translated speech.]"

XxXxXxX

"His fight record is very impressive, especially for someone so young," Landry commented as he looked through the flight record.

"It is, general. But I'm not convinced about him. He has no combat experience," the other man at the table replied.

"You do have the admit that he is talented though. The _Phoenix_ and Rogue squadron could use his skills, Colonel."

"You aren't wrong, sir," the Colonel admitted.

"Plus, we've seen a lot of impressive officers coming out of the academy."

The colonel took a moment to evaluate his options. A few minutes later he had made his decision. "Very well, we'll hold a practice live combat exercise to see his combat skills."

XxXxXxX

 _Cheyanne Mountain Complex, Conference Room._

Second Lieutenant Saito Hiraga sat at a table in a conference room in the fabled Cheyanne Mountain Complex. It was fabled for a reason in rumors spread throughout the Air Force. There were those that said that some real secretive black ops things happened in here. Most knew it as the place where NORAD monitored the defensive missile grid that was originally erected during the Cold War. Saito was knocked out of his thoughts as the door on the opposite side of him opened. He saw the multiple stars on the shoulders of two men and instantly stood up and stood at attention.

"At ease, Lieutenant," the older of the two said. Saito managed to see the nametag 'Landry' on one of the men's uniforms. Saito got the vibe of a mostly happy man who, for the most part, loved his job but was stern when he needed to be. The other had the nametag 'O'Neill' and he had salt and pepper crew cut hair wearing a relaxed version of his counterpart's uniform; he seemed to be the relaxed kind of person that could still kick his ass even in his upper forties or fifties.

"Have a seat, kick back, relax," O'Neill said.

"Am I in trouble, sirs?" Saito asked.

O'Neill turned to Landry, "This is why I hate formality. Why can't I just be called Jack?"

"Because you're a commanding officer, Jack," Landry replied.

"See? That wasn't so hard," Jack stated.

"That's because we are colleagues," replied Landry, to which Jack rolled his eyes. "Digression aside, the reason we called you here is to offer you a very lucrative job offer."

"Full medical benefits, dental, vision, the whole nine yards. It also includes a substantial pay increase," Jack added.

"Sir," Saito asked, "may I ask what this job entails?"

"You're quite the flier, that's for certain," O'Neill commented. "I haven't seen anyone with your kind of piloting skills in a while, which brought you to our attention."

"You would still be flying for us, but under a special command strike force," Landry added. "People with your kind of flying skills are needed, and we have a great offer for you."

"Sirs, how come it feels like you're holding out on me?" Saito asked.

"See," O'Neill remarked, "I told you he was a sharp kid!" He then turned to Saito, "Here's the deal, kid. This whole base is the epicenter of something big, but here's the catch: we can't tell you. Unless you sign this, that is." He then pushed forward a very large stack of papers with a pen sitting on top. "That there is your standard NDA. Sign it and we'll tell you more about this job offer, decline and we'll let you go on your way. But remember this, you won't know what we're doing," O'Neill chided in a 'come on and see what we've got' kind of way. Landry sort of gave him a raised eyebrow, showing nonverbally that he didn't entirely agree with what O'Neill was doing.

"What if I sign this and don't like what you're offering?" Saito asked carefully.

"Then you'll be free to leave but you will not be able to speak about anything we say after presenting any information after signing the NDA," Landry replied.

Saito considered his options carefully. He had an offer lined up right in front of him. Said offer came with retirement options, health care benefits, dental, and optical. But the last one sort of worried him: a higher than the normal rate for hazard pay. That made him raise an eyebrow but the look that he got from the two generals told him that his question on that specific point in his contract would be answered after he signed. He started clicking the pen he had been given, a nervous thinking habit he had picked up years ago, as he thought. Both generals shared a glance as they too noticed it. Jack was going to reach forward and take the pen but Saito stopped and signed and marked the date on the dotted line.

O'Neill then took the papers and shifted them into a pile before sliding them into a manila folder with an emblem on it that Saito had never seen before. "Welcome to the club, Lieutenant," O'Neill said as he pressed a button on a remote which caused a blast shield to lower behind Saito. He looked out to see a ring of some kind with seven visible chevrons on it. "That there is the Stargate."

"Stargate?" Saito asked in confusion.

"It's a device which creates a wormhole between another device like it hundreds if not thousands of light-years away. Walking through the event horizon allows a traveler to borderline instantly travel from one gate to another," Landry added. Saito listened on but he couldn't quite believe what both of these commanding officers were saying. "This gate is part of a network of gates throughout the galaxy for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years created by an ancient race called the Ancients." Saito couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Aliens," Saito deadpanned. "You're talking about aliens."

"Yes, and no," O'Neill admitted. "It's kind of complicated."

"Complicated?"

"There's some aliens out there, some friendly and some not, and a lot of humans."

"I'm sorry, humans? Now you're just yanking my chain."

"Thousands of years ago, around the time of the building of the pyramids, humans were used as slave labor by a race of parasitic snake-like creatures called the Goa'uld. After a successful rebellion they were driven away, but not before millions of humans were taken with them; hence human life being present in the galaxy," Landry replied.

"With all due respect, sirs, I don't believe you."

O'Neill looked exasperated and raised a hand for some unseen being above, or someone in another room looking on with a camera. "See? They never believe us," O'Neill said to Landry. Almost if there was some sort of cue, alarms started to ring throughout the highly secure bunker. Lights flashed and it sounded like boots were racing towards the room that the ring was sitting inside of.

"Unscheduled off-world activation!" came a man's voice over the speakers.

Both generals let the young man stand up and walk over to the window. Saito watched as the ring lit up one chevron at a time until seven were all lit up. There was a moment where there was an odd silence right before what looked like a "hydro pump" from Pokémon that flew out of the ring and stopped a good ten meters out before it folded in on itself to form a pool of water that stood vertically. A moment later four soldiers dressed in olive drab carrying P90 submachine guns. "Oh look, SG-5 is back," O'Neill commented.

The four soldiers walked below the window and out of sight and the gate deactivated, the 'water' that had been there disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place. "Nope, that didn't happen. It was all one illusionist show," Saito tried to rationalize.

O'Neill sighed and placed a hand on Saito's shoulder and pulled out a radio. " _Odyssey_ , two for transport," he commanded. There was a musical tone right before there was a white flash. When Saito blinked he was looking out a window, but instead a room with a ring… gate… thing, the entire world was in front of him. He could even see the ISS floating off to the side. "Welcome to space, kid."

All Saito could do was sputter confused word-vomit.

XxXxXxX

 **[ Play "Stargate: SG-1 Theme" ]**

XxXxXxX

 _Phoenix, Daedalus-class battlecruiser. Earth orbit._

Saito sat in front of a laptop that sat in the pilots' barracks and started to record a video message to his parents. "Hi mom, hi dad," he said in Japanese, which he only spoke in private with his parents or when he either visited or was visiting his grandparents. "I'm pretty sure you aren't too pleased with me as of late, especially considering that I turned down the scholarship from Yale to study to be a lawyer to join the Air Force as a pilot. But I love flying, you both know this. I can really see a career for me being a pilot, being a part of something bigger. Now, I can't tell you where I am right now due to reasons I can't discuss; but the people I'm with are good people. I love you guys and mom? When I get home you can scold me in person," he joked. "You can write emails to me and I'll respond as soon as I'm able to. I love you guys." Saito then ended the video recording and sent it through his 'company' email address.

He sat back in the chair and relaxed as he heard. "Attention all crew, prepare for the hyperspace jump," a woman said over the intercom.

Saito heard the engines start to purr slightly and walked towards one of the windows that showed the front of the ship. A blue-white cloud appeared and the _Phoenix_ sped towards it at incredible speeds. Once inside Saito saw the blue tunnel with stars racing past him and thought it was downright beautiful.

Seeing as he had several hours before they would arrive at their destination, P3X… something or another, he decided to head down to the hangar where his newly assigned F-302 was so he could inspect it.

XxXxXxX

 _Tristain Academy of Magic, morning._

The name 'Tristain Academy of Magic' was sort of misleading to anyone looking at the name at face value. It wasn't exactly an academy, but more of a college of magic for respectable noble families. Sure, there were others that were for young children and teens, but this school was for those that wanted to go beyond what they learned in school and become true masters of magic. In the courtyard, the entire first-year student body was gathered for their first test: summoning a familiar, a creature of magical origins that would symbiotically link themselves with their master in which both would benefit from. For the creature, this meant a home, a solid food source, and being able to hear the thoughts and desires of their master. For the mage this meant having a friend and confidant (even of the words weren't entirely understood), being able to access the elemental magicks that they naturally have, and being able to communicate with them without speaking. If the students managed to summon a familiar of any kind they would be accepted into the school, however, if they didn't they would be expelled and they would return to their families in one kind of shame or another. This was a test to weed out any individual who managed to slip their application through that didn't belong there, like a commoner with high (and delusional) aspirations.

Among these new students was Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, otherwise known as Louise or the 'Zero.' Why the Zero? Well, she had gotten the nickname back in her previous school where she had no talent in magic. It wasn't like she didn't have magic; no, she had plenty of it as her go-to spell was an explosion. However, she wasn't able to perform any magic outside of an explosion. The only reason she was even here was because her father pulled a few strings he had with the headmaster to have her application approved. However, her father's reach only went so far as the aforementioned test would flunk her out. This test was her final chance, and straw.

"Congratulations everyone on getting accepted into our prestigious academy of magic," Colbert said as he addressed the group of students in front of him. "As you all may know today is the first test in your academic career in becoming masters of magic. However, this also may be the last test for you if you fail. Though, after seeing many of your applications this shouldn't be a problem for you." In the group, a few that knew Louise snickered at her directly. Your test will be the summoning ritual with which you will summon a familiar with whom you will spend your lives as nobles."

Kirche leaned over and whispered just loudly enough for those very close to hear, "I can't wait to see what familiar you'll summon."

"Shut up," Louise muttered back.

One by one each student summoned a familiar, some cute and some just plain creepy. The womanizer Guiche went and summoned a mole. Eventually, it came time for Louise to take her turn. She intentionally kept placing herself further back in line to stall for time, if anything to avoid humiliation.

"Now, was that everyone?" Colbert asked the students.

Kirche spoke up quite loudly, "No, we still have Miss Valliere to go."

The only thought that passed through Louise's mind was, 'That bitch!' Being called out though, she had to make her way towards the center of the group where Colbert was waiting for her. Unlike her peers who looked on at her with looks of some kind of twisted amusement, Colbert looked sympathetic to her plight. She heard their grumblings about her being a Zero. About all, she was able to do was cause explosions.

"After all that boasting, you'll summon something more amazing than this little guy, right Louise?" Kirche flaunted her familiar who preened in the praise in being called amazing.

"Of course!" Louise replied shakily. She pointed her wand towards the empty space in front of her. "My servant, that exists somewhere in this universe!" The student body guffawed at that incantation. "My divine, beautiful, and powerful familiar! I wish and assert from the bottom of my heart… answer my guidance!" As she flicked her wand down there was, for a moment, not a single sound or explosion. Then an explosion was cast somehow not surprising anyone around her. When the smoke cleared there was what looked like a green portal floating in front of Louise.

The entire student body had the same question on their mind: "What is that?" the all said aloud and in unison.

XxXxXxX

 _Meanwhile… Phoenix, 302 bay. Hyperspace._

Saito sat in the cockpit while reading the entire operator's manual written by both Colonel Samantha Carter and Colonel John Sheppard. The technical, scientific aspects were described by Colonel Carter and the more flight-related subjects were written by firsthand experience gained by pilots like Colonel Sheppard. He had read the manual before, but this was more of a refresher course. According to what the flight leader of Rogue squadron (his squadron) told them, they would be conducting flight exercises when they arrived at their destination.

He had just finished reading about how the inertial dampener worked when he felt a static charge in the air. He set down the manual below the seat and peaked over the viewport to see a green portal no taller than a man's height. He hopped out of the cockpit and stepped off the wing to land on the floor. He approached the green portal slowly and carefully but stopped far enough away to faintly hear someone calling his name, and it was coming from the green circle… portal… thing. He shook his head and walked towards the phone on the wall near the door leading back into the center of the ship.

He tapped the number for the bridge into the interface and waited for someone to pick up. **"Bridge,"** a man replied.

"Tell the Colonel or whoever that there's a green portal just sitting here in the port 302 bay," Saito reported. "It appeared out of nowhere and it's kind of creeping me out if I'm being honest."

In the background, he could hear someone shout, **"Sir, we've found the spatial anomaly."**

" **Where?"** the Colonel asked.

" **The port 302 bay."**

" **Send a team down to investigate it."**

" **Aye, sir."**

" **Second Lieutenant Hiraga, correct?"** the colonel asked Saito.

Saito was shocked at the fact that the colonel knew who he was, more or less knew who was calling. "I am, but how did you know-?" he asked in return.

" **Your subcutaneous transmitter is the only one in the port 302 hangar bay,"** the colonel explained. **"I need you to listen very closely, lieutenant, as you're new to these things. Do not touch or approach that anomaly as we don't know where it originated from, what it does, or what it is. Wait for the science team to arrive and report any changes in the anomaly to them."**

"It sort of looks like a portal, sir," Saito added. "Like the Stargate but man-sized."

" **Your input is appreciated and your orders are what I said: keep your distance from the anomaly,"** the colonel replied before the line went dead.

Saito walked over to his assigned fighter and sat on the wing as he waited for the science team the colonel spoke about to arrive. It's not like his weight would damage the fighter after all the missiles that would be attached to the wings weighed over a thousand pounds. A few minutes later a four people walked into the hangar carrying equipment that Saito couldn't specify. Although, he could tell that one was carrying a laptop. They started taking out various tools and started to scan it all without touching it.

As they did their work Saito could hear something in the back of his mind calling him in the direction of the portal thing. Before he could realize what he was doing, he was approaching it and a few steps later he was standing right in front of it. He reached out towards the portal and heard muffled yells, but it was too late. His hand contacted the surface of the portal and he was pulled forward into the portal. The crew members that had been sent down grabbed onto Saito's arm and pulled in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile on the bridge alarms and sparks were going off throughout the bridge as turbulence caused the ship to shake. Those that looked outside saw the blue tunnel of hyperspace distorting and the color flickering between blue and green.

"What's going on!?" the colonel shouted.

More sparks erupted from one of the bulkheads as it felt like the ship was drifting. "We're being pulled off course!" a navigator replied.

"Sir! The reactor is going critical!" an engineer shouted from his console.

"Drop us out of hyperspace, now!" the colonel commanded. A hyperspace window opened in front of them and the ship emerged from hyperspace in orbit around a planet that was roughly the size of Earth but had two moons. The entire crew flew forward between a few inches to a few feet; those that had braced themselves were fine as they jolted forward slightly. However, for one specific crew member, the hands that held him from flying into the portal released him and he flew into the portal completely. Said portal disappeared as he fell through. "Status!" he shouted.

An engineer started looking over the logs that her console was giving her. "Hyperdrive is down. Sublight engines are rebooting. Transporter systems are online. Life support is nominal. No injuries have been reported," she reported.

"Sir! Lieutenant Hiraga fell through the anomaly!" a crew member reported.

"His transmitter's signal is coming from the planet!" another reported a moment later.

"What do we know about the planet?" the colonel asked.

Another crew member tapped away at a computer console. "It's got a breathable atmosphere, liquid water, and multiple land masses," he replied.

The colonel ordered, "Triangulate his transmitter's location and scramble a recovery team via transporter."

XxXxXxX

 _Tristain Academy of Magic, a few minutes earlier._

Saito's ears were ringing from being pulled through the portal-thing which caused him to hit his head upon impact. "Un humain?" a girl asked.

"Il est habillé comme un roturier," a boy added an observation.

"Ouais. Un paysan, sans aucun doute," another added.

Saito winced in pain as he opened his eyes to bright sunlight. "Jesus, I hit my head hard," Saito commented as he rubbed the back of his head, to which he got a small pang of soreness. "That's going to leave a mark," he muttered. He sat up and blinked a few times to get the sunspots out of his eyes. When the black spots cleared Saito saw that he was surrounded by older teens, and one balding adult, all wearing what looked like school uniforms with a cloak clasped with a five-pointed, gold star amulet covering it. Keeping a completely straight face he raised a single hand in a greeting gesture and said, "Uh… hi?"

The pink haired girl in front of him looked to be quite perturbed with a grimace on her face that spoke hundreds of words. One of which Saito could guess was disappointment. "C'est divin, beau et puissant?" the pink haired girl mumbled.

One of the things that Saito noticed was that he recognized some of the words, but not all of them. Change that, it was more like two, but you would get the point. It sounded like a Latin based language, 'One of the few times I can actually thank my parents for forcing me to take that God forsaken class,' Saito thought. 'French, maybe?' He didn't know many French people at all, but they seemed to have the stereotypical accents that one would think of when thinking of a French person.

"Qui es-tu?" she asked.

'Ok, I recognized "tu", which is the same in Spanish and Latin as "you", "i.e. et tu Brute?", but what is she asking about me?' Saito thought with a raised eyebrow.

"Vous ne reconnaissez pas notre langue? D'où viens-tu, paysan?" she asked, the last word definitely sounding condescending.

'Ok, that last word sounded like an insult. But I recognized "vous" confirming they were speaking French, or at least a variant of it, thank you Le Mis.' Racking his brain for the words, even though they would be excessively rough as he only knew a few keywords. It was like going to Mexico and only knowing 'soy Americano,' or 'I am an American.' 'It's worth a shot to at least introduce myself,' he thought. He then spoke, "Je suis Second Lieutenant Saito Hiraga du United States Air Force." He was shocked to see their expressions at the word 'Lieutenant', meaning the word did exist either completely or mostly untranslated, although they did not seem to know what the USAF was.

This seemed to get everyone in an uproar, mostly at the prodding of a large chested, dark-skinned woman who was dressed like the others around him. 'These are all uniforms of some kind,' he remarked. 'A school? But what kind of one?' There seemed to be insults thrown around due to the way they were said towards the girl, first starting from the boobed girl and then immediately followed by the people around her. Something that was emphasized further when they all started to laugh at her.

"Tais-toi!" she yelled at the group. "Monsieur Colbert, puis-je essayer d'appeler à nouveau?" she asked the balding man.

"Je ne peux pas le permettre" he replied.

"Pourquoi pas?"

Quite adamantly baldy, as Saito decided to call him for the time being, he replied, "Ce rituel est sacré qui décide de la vie entière du mage. Essayant une seconde fois des blasphèmes contre le rituel lui-même! Que vous l'aimiez ou non, cet homme a été choisi comme familier."

"Ok, I only understood like ten words there," Saito commented at a much lower volume than the two currently shouting at each other. "This has to be what Doc. Jackson told me about the rest of the galaxy having its quirks in civilizations like this."

"Mais je n'ai jamais entendu parler d'un paysan comme un familier!" the pinkette exclaimed, to which the crowd erupted in laughter.

"Je n'accepterai aucune exception, paysan ou non," baldie declared. "Continuez avec le ritual."

"Avec ça?" she asked despairingly as she poked her -wand?- in Saito's forehead.

'Girl or not, keep poking me like that and you're getting cunt punted,' Saito thought in annoyance as his patience was reaching a breaking point; plus, and it wasn't like this probable concussion wasn't helping any.

"Dépêchez-vous, ou vous serez expulsé!" baldie replied.

"Don't you sound like a big ol' ball of sunshine?" Saito commented as he stood up. He looked to pinkie and saw that she was closely approaching him. "Can I help you?" he asked her.

"Soyez reconnaissant pour cela. Normalement, un noble ne le ferait jamais avec un paysan," she replied.

"Ok, again with the insult. I don't understand you and yet I can still tell that's an insult," Saito replied. She then pushed him down so he landed on his rear, "Ok, what the hell?"

She then flicked her wand towards the sky and chanted, "Je m'appelle Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Le Pentagone qui règle les cinq pouvoirs, bénisse cet individu et le rendez-vous familier!" She then straddled him to keep him in place and placed a hand behind his head and leaned in with her lips puckered.

"What are you doing?" Saito asked as he slightly struggled, unsure what in the name of God, or insert name of deity here, was going on.

"Allons, reste tranquille!" she chided in a lower volume. She then closed the distance and kissed him on the lips for a few solid seconds.

"Ok…? What the hell was that?" Saito asked as pinkie got off of him.

"Il semble que le contrat du serviteur soit terminé pacifiquement," baldie commented as he approached them.

Saito then whistled without using his fingers to get their attention as his patience finally broke, "Hello? Still can't understand what the fuck you're saying!" He then felt something start to roll over him. Heat to be specific. It felt like that time when he had gone with his parents to Death Valley as part of a sightseeing vacation they did years ago. It didn't take him long to put two and two together to figure out that what the pink haired young woman said combined with the kiss she gave him was causing this, it was simple logic after all. "What the hell did you do to me?" he demanded.

It didn't seem like a language barrier restricted her answer as it seemed like she had anticipated this question. "Il finira bientôt. C'est juste la rune de l'être familier brûlé sur vous," she replied borderline emotionlessly.

Saito only had a few seconds to process what she had just said, albeit to very limited effect as he only caught the words 'rune' and 'familiar' quite clearly, right before his left hand started to burn with what felt like a hot iron being stamped on his skin. The pain was unbearable before he passed out. As he did he could have sworn he heard the sound of musical tones like the ones he had heard back on Earth followed by the charging of rifle bolts. But what happened afterward he didn't hear as he passed into the black sweetness of unconsciousness.

XxXxXxX

Sargent Avery Johnson was a man of honor and action. He had served with the Marines faithfully for years before being contacted and assigned to Stargate Command as a ship's Marine compliment. 'It seems as though the fly boys don't quite have everything under their belts,' he mused as he loaded his P90's magazine. "Alright, listen up!" he shouted in the small area of where the old Ring room used to be before it was phased out. "We're off course and we don't know what planet is below us other than it has a breathable atmosphere. Now one of their flyboys has been sucked through some kind of portal and is now down on the surface. Our job is to get him and bring him home. Even if he's not a Marine, no one gets left behind!"

"Sir, what our rules of engagement?" Corporal Jennifer Livingston, their resident 'away team' linguist and tech expert, asked.

"Use of force is authorized, but the use of deadly force is to only be used if they attack us first. Extraction is via transporter. Are we clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!" the other four members of the group shouted in unison.

Johnson then pushed the talk button on his radio, "Colonel, we're ready to rock and roll."

" **Copy that, Phoenix-1. We've got a lock on his transmitter. Good luck and godspeed,"** the colonel replied.

For the five-person squad, they heard the familiar tones of music and the flash of light. The next thing they knew after the flash disappeared they were in the courtyard of some sort of castle surrounded by uniformed teens and a bald older man holding a staff. Johnson looked down and saw that the Lieutenant was on the ground writhing in pain. Johnson immediately raised his P90 and aimed it in no general direction and charged the first round into the chamber. Seeing what Johnson saw, the rest of the team immediately did the same, getting screams from the rest of the people around them.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Johnson asked in his booming voice that carried across the entire courtyard with little resistance.

"Éloignez-vous de mon familier!" a pink haired girl yelled.

"What the hell did she say?" Johnson asked Livingston.

Jennifer had to pause for a moment before she mentally translated the words. "She said, and I quote, 'step away from my familiar!' very demandingly," she replied. "They're speaking French. It's a slight derivative than what I'm used to, but I can translate if needed."

"Do it," Johnson ordered.

"[Who are you?]" the bald headed man asked.

"[I am Corporal Jennifer Livingston of the United States Marine Corps and will be acting as a communication intermediary between us and my commanding officer,]" she replied. "[Now, if you can return the same courtesy?]"

"[I am Professor Colbert here at the Tristain Academy of Magic.]"

Johnson laughed when he heard that, well the magic part of it. Everyone involved with the SGC experienced the strangest of things, but it was never magic. "[What's going on here? Why is our pilot here and why is he passed out in pain?]"

"[This is a yearly tradition that all entry level students take where they summon a familiar, lest they be expelled.]"

While Livingston had an idea what a familiar was, she decided to press the question to confirm it further. "[And what is a familiar, in your interpretation that is?]"

"[They're creatures summoned to do our bidding as well as to be our lifelong companions through the use of a magical contract.]"

"[And Lieutenant Hiraga is now one of the familiars?]" Livingston asked carefully.

"[Yes, of Miss Vallière; although, it was unheard of for anyone to summon another human before. This is the first known instance of this.]"

When she told Johnson, he was livid. "This is unacceptable!" he declared.

"[Is there any way to break this contract?]" Livingston asked.

Colbert shook his head as a negative, "[Unfortunately, it cannot be done. The bond, runes, and contract are for both the lives of the familiar and the mage who initiated the contract.]"

After she relayed the translation to Johnson he sighed, "This is going to cause a lot of headaches for both the colonel and the generals back home."

Livingston looked down and saw what looked like a tattoo or a brand on Saito's left hand. "This is odd," she remarked. "It looks like old Nordic writing. Similar to what the Asgard used."

"We should get him back to the _Phoenix_ ," the team medic commented. "He needs a full examination by the doctor; we have no idea what this 'ritual' has done to him physically."

Johnson thought of something. He remembered old tales of old magicians and thought of something. "Livingston, I want to ask the following question," he ordered.

"[Will there be any adverse effects from them being far apart?]" Livingston conveyed.

Colbert seemed to pause for a moment. "[It's not good for the familiar and mage to be far apart as it will start to take a negative toll on them,]" Colbert replied.

Livingston shared the reply and asked, "[Would the mage who initiated the contract be willing to come with us? There would be stipulations but they would be returned as they were.]"

Colbert turned to the pink one, a hair color that raised a few eyebrows when they first arrived. "[Miss Vallière? You share responsibility for Mr. Hiraga being in this situation.]" She seemed to not to take it seriously. Plus, these people were able to appear out of nowhere and held weapons that definitely didn't look like the guns used by some of the elite musketeers in the way that they only had one shot. Colbert could see the bullets in the orange, transparent casing which he used his higher learning and logic to determine that somehow these guns could fire much more than one bullet before being reloaded; and he didn't want to anger these people as he was the only mage rated for combat in the area, well outside of the Headmaster who's a grandmaster. "[If you don't you'll fail the test and you'll be expelled.]"

That seemed to really get her attention. "[Then I will willingly go with them to look after my familiar,]" she said with somewhat forced gusto.

She walked over to the five soldiers and Johnson held out his hand and Livingston clarified, "[Please hand over any weapons or objects that can be used as weapons. They will be returned to you once you have been returned.]"

Louise looked to Colbert but he gave her a look that said 'comply with them.' Shakily she handed over her wand to Johnson who put it inside of the pockets on his combat vest. He then reached up on his shoulder and pressed the talk button on his radio and said, " _Phoenix_ , seven for transport."

" **Copy, stand by,"** came the female operator's voice on the other side. Everyone heard the sound of musical tones and the seven people were surrounded by white vertical lights and disappeared, shocking the students and professor once again. Colbert quickly ran towards the Headmaster's office to report what had just happened.

Meanwhile, up in space, the group appeared in another flash of light in the same ring room as before. "Take those two to the medbay," Johnson ordered. "I've got to go talk to the Colonel. Livingston, tag along as a translator for her."

A pair of medics walked through the corridors carrying a stretcher and loaded Saito up on it before leading the way to the infirmary. Livingston looked to Louise and said, "[This way.]"

"[Where are we going?]" Louise asked.

"[Some place to really push the severity of who we are as I can tell you have a bit of a complex,]" she replied. They walked to a large window which looked out over the bow of the _Phoenix_. Louise's eyes widened as she saw the world below them filling the window while a large metal structure lay looming over it, that being the _Phoenix_. "[Congratulations, you are the first of your world to enter outer space.]"

"[By Brimir…]" she said in both fear and wonder.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, that's the end of this one. So like I said before this was an idea spawned from a Halo/Familiar of Zero crossover I saw a while back called "Zero to Infinity" by McCree114 (** id: 10450899 **) and thought this was a unique way to do this story. I do highly recommend checking it out for yourself as well.**

 **Before you ask, two things: 1) Obviously as this is NOT a Halo crossover I am just using our good pal Sgt. Johnson's name as an extra character name. 2) All of the spoken dialogue done by our Tristain students and teacher were all pretty much the same as it was in the show so I don't think I really need translations done as if I need to pad out this pilot any more than it already is *rolls eyes*.**

 **Some things I would like to explore in this pilot, should I wish to continue it further, is the eventual romantic dynamic between Saito and Louise given his much different background. Another thing is the whole SGC and FoZ-world being involved in now galactic affairs thanks to the SGC being on their planet. Brimir being possibly an Asgard who saved the people of this world from the Goa'uld.**

 **And before I go, some closing remarks as I really don't have any numbered notes this time around is that all of the French in this chapter were provided by Google Translate so if any are mistakes in syntax or spelling, blame Google because all I did was take Episode 1's dialogue and threw it in Google Translate before copy and pasting it into my document.**

 **Another thing, I have a Minds account under "PhillyCh3zSt3ak" where I plan to post things like OP-EDs and other opinion pieces ranging from thoughts about video games like the controversial, from multiple viewpoints,** _ **Mass Effect: Andromeda**_ **to political commentary (and regular commentary as well). You're welcome to join this new website which promotes free speech and follow me and I'll post something eventually.**

 **This is all I have for you, so I'll see you next time in the next installment.**


	22. A HP x Infinite Stratos pilot

**Ok, so yet again I don't have a clever opening. Oh well, not much I can do about that other than going straight into what this new pilot is.**

 **So a while back I saw a story "challenge" that was of the same vein that I wanted to attempt here called "Harry Potter and the Infinite Stratos" by Rennard (** id: 11554101 **). Now in his prologue fic Harry reveals the fact that muggles will eventually discover magic and there's nothing that the Ministry of Magic nor the ICW can do about it because as technology evolves so does the fact that magic WILL be discovered and with the Internet becoming more and more evolved it will become impossible to cover up magic forever, and for that he is exiled and becomes a silent architect and partner in the building of the Infinite Stratos machine.**

 **So how am I going to use this? Well, first and foremost I am still going to keep the same idea going forward: Harry reveals the fact that the knowledge of magic will soon become commonplace as the knowledge that the Earth is round and there is nothing that anyone can do to stop it during his farce of a trial at the beginning of the fifth year. Because of his remark Fudge listens to his toadie of a Toad and has him exiled. Thanks to some pre-death intervention from his mother was able to have money and not be completely reliant on any heirloom treasures that he was locked out from.**

 **Rating: T+ due to some sexual content but nothing overtly explicit. Some language and suggestive content eventually.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling and** _ **Infinite Stratos**_ **belongs to Izuru Yumizuru and Media Factory. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

 **[Music suggestion]**

XxXxXxX

 _British Ministry of Magic, Courtroom. August 20XX._

Harry Potter sat in a courtroom in the middle of the Ministry of Magic feeling nervous. Understandable since this was his first, and hopefully last trial. He was terrified at the thought of being expelled from Hogwarts as that was the only place he could be himself and had friends that understood his situation, especially with magic hating relatives that wanted little to nothing to do with him. The only other thing that he had outside of Hogwarts was coding things. Growing up, whenever he was chased by Dudley and his ilk he would retreat to the library where he discovered coding and programming applications and computers. He was damned good at it and some considered a prodigy when it came to his code. When he started at Hogwarts he had to cut back as Hogwarts had no electricity (unless you wanted to wrangle with lightning) and did it in his spare time on holidays and the summers. He would go on to create his first successful app for all phone and tablet platforms under the name DedSec (1).

The app in and of itself had a simple concept of a free dating app for introverts that used a personality test of his own creation that was based off widely used tests like the Mayer-Briggs personality test to match people with their best possible, potential other half. Within a few weeks, he had the cash flow from several million concurrent users from banner ads which he had all converted to crypto as he didn't understand taxes and tax law at the age of twelve. He was known as a ghost online as he had no presence and purposefully neglected to upload any image of himself.

As he went to school at Hogwarts he got several members of the coding community approach him for help in debugging their software or apps, of which he was paid fairly for his time. He even got a few very high clearance level things from what he could tell based on the small sample of code he had been given at the time. He never knew what it was for and he was pretty sure whomever it was that was sharing these small snippets of code were more than likely breaking some kind of law or agreement.

When the end of fourth year rolled around he started to do some digging online and ended up exploring some of the surface parts of the Deep Web for any sightings of magic as the world became more and more technological and information could be shared instantly around the world. There were articles on conspiracy message boards about secret societies hidden in plain sight that was spot on. In particular, magical shopping nexuses like Diagon Alley and secret schools where kids from ages ten or eleven until they were seventeen or eighteen disappeared off the grid. They were also right about mind wiping as Harry had seen that personally during the World Cup with those Obliviators who kept wiping the mind of that poor groundskeeper and his family. Although, the last one that they got was well needed as they were tortured by Death Eaters. This information shocked him as he read on other message boards over the years that images and video had been taken of 'weirdos in LARPing gear' wandering around or some even performing actual magic on camera. One guy said that he found the video on his phone and he didn't remember where it came from (2).

But, all of this background information wasn't why Harry was here at the moment. Oh no, it was because he had decided to be the better man and save his lard-ass of a cousin who always picked on him (or in some instances, beat him up) from a Dementor. You know Dementors, the soul sucking, happiness stealing demons? Yeah, those. He had saved his cousin by using the only harmful to Dementors _Patronus_ charm in the sight of a muggle (Dudley) and a squib (Mrs. Figg) and had received a notice from the Ministry for the use of magic in the sight of them as well as being underage. If that weren't enough he was expelled from Hogwarts. This trial, which Harry could see though thanks to many hours of _Law and Order_ as well as daytime court shows his aunt watched while he did chores, that this was a farce of a trial. You know the kind, a kangaroo court.

He sat in a chair that looked like it had straps attached to it like old torture devices that he saw in a museum. There appeared to be two halves to this oddly small courtroom that gave him the feeling that this was used for more clandestine purposes as the forward half that he could see was filled to the brim with what looked like men dressed as Cardinals while behind him he saw no one at all. There was a bailiff that stood to the side dressed in what looked like robes meant for law enforcement but definitely not what muggle law enforcement wore. Sitting on a raised platform was Minister Cornelius Fudge who wore what looked like a judge's outfit as it just had that look to it. Sitting beside him was a woman who could only be described in appearance of what the offspring of a man had a child with a toad. Yes, it's as disgusting as you think it looks. She wore the garish outfit consisting entirely of the color pink. While Harry was thankful for the change in color in wardrobes which usually consisted of dark colors like black, he wished it wasn't pink. He also felt sorry for whoever the poor soul that was married to that woman. Assuming she even was, that is.

"Mr. Potter, so you why you are here today?" Fudge asked from atop his high up pedestal.

"To testify that a Dementor attacked me and my cousin so you can do a formal inquiry into how that could have happened?" Harry asked in turn in the most respectful light he could give Fudge, especially considering that this man was pretty much defaming him in the papers. Even if It wasn't outright, Fudge still signed off on it.

"Dementors? No, we're here to discuss Professor Dumbledore's appeal on your expulsion for the misuse of magic in the presence of a Muggle," Fudge replied. He looked down at his notes and continued, "You used the _Patronus_ charm, is this correct?"

"That was the only spell-," Harry was only able to get out before he was rudely cut off.

"And you did this in Little Whinging, Surrey in the presence of one Dudley Dursley. Is this also correct?"

"Yes, my cousin was-," yet again he was rudely cut off.

"Then I believe that this is all the evidence we need to-," Fudge got off right before Harry interrupted him instead.

"Can I at least have five bloody seconds to explain WHY?" Harry exclaimed, shocking the gathered people in the room. "Thank you. Now Dudley is my cousin on my mother's side whose parents are my legal guardians so they know about magic, despite how much they hate it and I respect the rules of the house and don't perform magic in it and only generally speak about it around them. Now how many of you know the _Patronus_ charm? Come on now, I want a little class participation." Quite a few raised their hands slowly. "And what are the two uses of the _Patronus_? As a way to send a message to another person or to ward off Dementors. Why would I send a message in the middle of a street when I could just do it in the privacy of my room and get nothing more than a small fine or a warning as no one saw it? The only logical conclusion was that I was using the aforementioned other purpose of the charm, to ward off a Dementor," Harry concluded (3).

"That's impossible!" the woman on the right of Fudge shouted. "Every Dementor is currently stationed at Azkaban and the control stone is locked away deep within the Ministry under heavy security measures."

"Then either one of the Dementors that were stationed by the order of the Minister was unaccounted for after their recall decided to take revenge on me two years later, or something is rotten in the State of Denmark."

"I'm sorry?" Fudge asked.

"There's someone who has access to whatever controls the Dementors and firmly believes that killing me will gain them some kind of favor with Voldemort," Harry clarified, to his utter surprise (sarcasm intended) they all gasped in shock similarly how prudes would at seeing anything provocative, like pornography for instance.

"That's impossible, the Dark Lord is dead!" the pink toad shouted, although something inside Harry told him that she didn't believe her own words one bit.

"Ideals are much harder to kill than people are," Harry simply replied. This had many of the people in the 'jury' whispering among themselves. After all, it did make sense in the context of things. The pink toad started to whisper in the ear of the Minister. It seemed as though the toad was providing her own straw man argument without allowing Harry to rebut it. When she pulled away she had the smuggest look on her face that would have made the Cheshire cat jealous at how smug it looked.

"Mr. Harry James Potter. It is the decision of this court that your previous sentence of expulsion from Hogwarts is to be upheld," Fudge announced. "Your wand will be confiscated and will be held in Ministry custody and returned to you should you attend another school. You have until the beginning of the next term to find another school else your wand will be forfeit and will be destroyed."

For whatever reason, in that moment, Harry lost it. He suddenly stood up and shouted, "Does it really matter?!" This got the attention of the wizards and witch before him.

"Does what really matter, Mr. Potter?" Fudge asked completely unsure.

"The Statute of Secrecy, that's what!"

"Of course it's important, Mr. Potter," Fudge replied. "Without it the Muggles would discover our society and would commit atrocities upon our citizenry."

"You don't get it, do you? Muggle technology has advanced substantially over the years. Where physical sight easy to manipulate, digital cameras are not, especially if they're viewing from afar. Haven't you stopped to think, even for a moment WHEN the existence of magic will get out? WHEN not IF? The internet stretches across the planet where you can share media and messages with anyone on the other side of the planet in the blink of an eye. All it will take is one wizard slipping up being recorded on some blogger's livestream for it to be spread world-wide, for it to become viral. How will the Ministry, no, the ICW keep magic under wraps then when the entire world, billions, have seen it?"

"Mr. Potter, such a thing would never happen," Umbridge said with pompousness that could only be found in the upper echelons that produce the Pureblood superiority that they're known for.

"And how do you know that?" Harry snapped back. "Every year cameras are being installed by the government to monitor their citizens to keep them safe and they aren't obvious unless you're looking for them. These 'hidden' cameras will record everything and some wizard, especially one who thinks they can get away with anything, will get caught. At that point, there will be nothing you can do, you can't cover it up when it becomes public knowledge (4)."

"That's enough!" Fudge shouted just as angrily, shooting off a blasting hex at the ceiling of the courtroom. Umbridge whispered into Fudge's ear once more like the little backroom politician she was. When she was done Fudge cleared his throat, "Mr. Potter, your threat of exposing the magical world is not to go unpunished. From this day forth you are banished from Magical Britain, effective immediately."

Harry was guffawed, but not entirely surprised. He took out his wand, which caused several guards to pull their wands in return and tossed it half-assed towards Fudge, landing but a few feet in front of him. "Do you know what? Fuck you," he said gaining an immediate reaction from those in front of him. "When Voldemort eventually comes back for you, and we all know deep within our minds who is and isn't in his camp ideologically," Harry made sure to shoot a glare towards both Umbridge and Malfoy, "you'll remember what I said during the end of the Triwizard Tournament about him being back. You'll ask for me to come back and help, I won't. Your own hubris will be your own undoing." Harry said nothing else and left the room giving the shocked group and guards the bowman's salute (5) as he left.

XxXxXxX

 _Six months later, Tokyo docks._

Harry sat on the edge of the docks near one of the ports near Tokyo where ferries, cruise ships, freighters, and even some military vessels that were resupplying were moored. He cast out the line of his fishing rod as he sat in the camping chair he purchased a while back when he was in America and camped for a good month in the Appalachian Mountains. He wore a fisherman's hat with various hooks and lures on it while next to his chair was a tackle box that was high enough to set a drink on. As he propped up his fishing rod he thought back on what happened over the last six months.

The British Ministry of Magic froze his accounts at Gringotts leaving him with almost nothing. He was told by a representative via mail that if he were to enter the bank he would be arrested as per the treaty set in stone a thousand years earlier. However, they did send him a safe deposit key that belonged to a local bank. Inside the safe deposit box was a note from his mother. She had siphoned a substantial amount from the Potter fortune in the amount of the tuition for an Ivy league school for all four years adding in the amount that room and board would cost. He converted most of it into crypto and the remaining cash he took and saw the world, well, except Britain due to his banishment from the country. His only companion being his owl Hedwig.

He flew to New York City where he discovered Vertic Alley, a Wizarding shopping center (see: mall) hiding right next to Times Square in plain sight and was considered the only place on the East Coast to get all your high-quality Wizarding goods. Of course, there were other malls like one in Chicago and another in Los Angeles, but being in the middle of the high society Vertic Alley prided themselves on having the best quality goods. He purchased another wand there as he was blacklisted from the British Isles, he was allowed to purchase another wand in the US which didn't have the Trace on it. From there both he and Hedwig made their way east until they eventually reached Hawaii. And to be honest? He intentionally stayed there longer than any other place he had stayed before at a long four months. After that, he made his way across the Pacific to Japan until he reached his current position of sitting on the docks fishing.

As he relaxed he felt the presence of someone approach him. "You know? It's sort of rude to approach someone from behind without making yourself known," he more or less lazily said.

"Aww, how did you know that I was here?" a woman's voice said from behind, she definitely sounded like a teenager and she definitely had an accent showing that she wasn't at least a native English speaker but was practiced.

"Well, you weren't being very quiet. Plus, the cars you arrived in a diesel engine which are notoriously noisy," he replied.

"Ah! That makes sense," she cheerily replied, clapping like a younger child. That wasn't further from the truth, the familiar bond that he shared with Hedwig conveyed her approach.

"So, what do you want?" Harry asked before she could go off on any tangent as she seemed to be the type.

"Are you the one that goes by the name 'DedSec' online?"

That immediately made Harry freeze and summon his wand into his hand from the holster that had been hidden on his body with a modified 'Notice-me-not' spell that made everyone but the owner's eyes 'slip' away from it, making it seem almost invisible. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Who wants to know?" Harry asked very carefully. After all, in the past he had written code for clandestine projects, perhaps one of the governments that he had 'unofficially' attributed code to one of their projects was going to off him. 'But why use a teenage girl?' he asked himself.

Harry turned around and saw that the woman was actually a girl confirming his whole teenage theory. She looked to be around thirteen to fourteen with pink hair. She wore what looked like an oversized shirt with a skirt that edged on slightly too short. Next to her were slightly beefy bodyguards that wore black suits that definitely had inspiration from _Men in Black_ if the sunglasses were anything to go by. Both of them had a hand reaching inside their suit more than likely gripping a handgun. "I'm Tabane Shinonono, you may know me as Tabane the Genius," she boasted.

"Never heard of you," Harry replied.

She seemed to visually deflate at that. "You've never heard of me? Maybe you received a certain code package a year or two back that you included the comment in the code 'written by the wizard of hackers, DedSec'?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," Harry replied all too quickly. "So… what do you want? No one goes through the trouble of back tracing a coder just to say hello when you could have done that with a simple message."

"I want to recruit you to a project I'm working on, in fact, you helped participate in it and I want to have you work on it full time," Tabane replied.

"Not really hearing any upsides to this for me," Harry commented.

"You'd get paid a lot, more than what you have in your crypto wallet right now. You'd also get full health and dental benefits. Plus, this project may take up to ten years to complete. Given the fact that you don't have a house on record you'd also be provided a home to live in as well as one paid week-long holiday a year."

Harry had to admit, that sounded pretty great. Especially given the fact that he was pretty much on his own and his own funds were slowly but surely depleting. He had been staying in hotels for the most part and he had a few times where he splurged quite a few times. Especially to get some new toys on the market and then modifying them to fit his tastes, like his personal laptop which was much more powerful than what was on the market for consumers and his phone which served as a miniaturized computer and routing point if needed. "I have two conditions," Harry said breaking the silence.

"Oh, and that is?"

"I don't want my name attached to this project officially and I want one favor, no questions asked."

She seemed to hum in thought, placing a finger on her chin. "So I would get all the glory, ne?" she asked.

"If that's what you want," Harry shrugged.

She stuck out her hand, the international symbol of offering the finalization of a deal. "I think we have ourselves a deal." Harry took her hand and shook it.

"Deal."

XxXxXxX

 _2 years later. Undisclosed bunker._

Harry sat in front of a computer that had a joystick coming out of it on the side as a peripheral. On the screen, he saw a greyscale camera image with some white human silhouettes standing around one single one while in front of that singular dot there was another who looked like it was standing in defiance to the one with all of the people on its side. On the screen, there was a targeting reticle that was aimed towards the one that had more on their side (6).

"Ne, Harry-kun, why do you need a UCAV?" Tabane asked.

"Ms. Genius, what did I say was part of our deal? One favor, no questions asked. The fact that you're asking almost makes me want to amend our deal to add another favor to it," Harry joked. "Let's just put it this way, I'm just taking care of some personal business back in my homeland that needed to be taken care of," he said as he pushed a button on the joystick, highlighting the white silhouettes behind the one, marking them with orange-red rectangles along with the single one. "The kind that if it's left to fester will come to bite us in the rear." He then pulled the trigger and several white lances leaped out from the UCAV and hit each of the orange rectangle targets in the head, killing them instantly. The single silhouette on the other side looked around as confused as all hell. "I do have some good news for you though, Ms. Genius: the therm-optic cloak and multi-target energy weapons are working at optimal efficiency for anti-personnel uses in a smaller package."

"Do I WANT to know what that was all about?" Tabane asked with slight chills at the borderline psychopathic way that Harry reported the after action status of the UCAV.

"Vengeance that I've waited many years for," Harry replied scarily.

XxXxXxX

 _8 years later. IS Academy._

 **[Waltz for Zizi, The Seatbelts – Cowboy Bebop OST (7)]**

Sitting at the docks once more was a twenty-six-year-old man strumming an acoustic guitar while peeking from time to time at the fishing rod sitting next to him. Out on the horizon, the sun was starting to set creating a beautiful skyline of yellows, oranges, and reds. What looked like sound waves lighting up on his right arm as he strummed in time with the notes. He hummed the bass line to what the bass guitar would be playing.

"What are you doing here?" a woman demanded from behind him, sounding authoritative.

Without losing time or a beat he continued on strumming and replied, "Fishing."

"Why are you fishing here? Don't you know that this is a restricted area?" she demanded an answer.

"Only to those who don't already have clearance," he replied. "As for the fishing, that sunset right there. After a long day's work, this makes it all worth it." He sighed in relief, "You know, I think I have another guitar sitting around here somewhere if you want to make this a duet. I could use a bassist."

"I'm not interested in playing," she said as she activated her IS sword and arm.

"It's a shame," he shrugged.

"The fact remains, who are you?" she asked as she held her sword to his neck.

"Well, that's nor very nice," Harry commented. "The least you could do is give your name first."

"Chifuyu Orimura," she replied after much deliberation.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "So it was you, Archangel!" he said chipperly.

She brought the tip of the sword closer to his neck. "How do you know that name?" she seethed as though she was worried someone would hear it.

"Have you forgotten me already? It's only been ten years, after all."

Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "You!"

"So you do remember me!"

"You were in the control room!"

"But do you know why?" Harry eluded her by asking another one of his questions. "Ok, fine. Just don't tell anyone. Override, initiate deactivation. Authorization: DedSec."

The IS immediately seized up before the gauntlet piece and sword disappeared. Chifuyu tried to activate her IS again but only got an interface window that had the normal interface, but as she attempted to reboot her IS with the on-screen option but the screen seized up and became pixelated right before black and white concentric rings began to emerge from the center of the screen before a stylized skeleton appeared and looked like it was laughing.

"What is going on?!" she exclaimed in frustration.

"It was either that or a pirate with a parrot going 'hush hush', 'what what', 'butt boat'," Harry replied nonchalantly with a shrug (8). He took a moment to really think, "Do you know what? I'm going to have Tabane implement that in the next series of IS cores; I could really use a laugh."

"How did-," Chifuyu asked before she was cut off by Harry.

"I'm the programmer that wrote a mass majority of the code that allows the operator to interface with the IS," Harry finally revealed.

Chifuyu looked absolutely shocked. "That's impossible, only Tabane worked on the IS!"

"Oh, she built it, alright. But she couldn't figure out how to get the core and the hardware to talk to each other in a satisfactory way, so she years ago had me help her by sending me a stack of incomplete code that I fixed which went into the first IS suit. Hence the reason I was there at the testing," Harry explained.

"How are you not the most wanted man in the world?"

"That's an easy question. Because I allowed her to take all the credit," he shrugged.

"Why would you allow her to take all the credit?"

Harry only raised an eyebrow. "Do you REALLY think that I want to be the most wanted man in the world? Plus, Tabane knew the risks involved and agreed to my terms of being a silent partner in the IS's development." There was a silence between the two as the wind from the sea blew in allowing Chifuyu to very briefly see a faded lightning-shaped scar on Harry's brow. "You know the reason behind why Tabane made the IS female only, but do you know my reasoning behind supporting it?" She also raised an eyebrow at Harry's statement. "I know, strange right? A man supporting a potential war machine that changes warfare forever by placing the power that men usually had on the battlefield by women wielding machines of great power (although officers, tacticians, and strategists in militaries are still men by an overwhelming majority). But I have my reasons."

Seeing as she didn't object, he went on. "You see, twenty-five years ago I was but a wee babe when my parents were brutally murdered. Before you attempt to give me your sympathies, you don't need to; for a long time now I've come to terms with it. I'm going to skip a decade as I'm sure you don't want to hear about my abysmal home life under the care of my aunt, uncle, and cousin and skip right to when a certain truth was revealed to me. This truth? That my parents were not only not drunkards and druggies but had died to protect me from a mass murderer, but that they were part of a secret enclave of beings capable of using a field of energy that they could manipulate to do many fantastic, and horrible, things with. The name of this mystical field is magic. I know what you're thinking already, 'Magic, this man is daft!' Allow me to demonstrate," Harry said as he brandished his wand seemingly out of nowhere. He flicked it at a discarded disposable cup which transformed into a dog that barked at Chifuyu. Harry flicked his wand once more and the dog returned to being a cup.

"How did you-?" she asked in confusion.

"Magic," he replied simply with a 'Marauder's grin'. "You see, this community of magic users call themselves witches and wizards, for women and men respectively, and they seclude themselves from the world worried that the populace would either be exploited or killed because of the power they possess. These abilities range from levitation of an object to summoning sentient fire which consumes whatever it comes into contact with to ash which can only be controlled only by those with a strong mental fortitude; otherwise it will run out of control and consume not only what the one who cast it at wanted, but they themselves as well. Imagine a borderline unstoppable army capable of literally making the world burn to ash," Harry said with mystery and disturbing reverence, to an extent.

Chifuyu was outright disturbed at that implication. 'Sentient fire? Consuming whatever it touches to ash?' she thought.

"Imagine the military applications such a people would have? You could unleash a few of these people and have them make an entire battlefield turn against whoever's side they're on. Imagine unleashing someone who can use this sentient fire in a crowded city. Imagine a country having to cope with someone doing that. The possibilities are both endless and horrifying from a loss of human life perspective. So, they hide themselves away to prevent themselves from being used. But I bet you're asking yourself what happens if someone who isn't supposed to know about them finds out about them. Well, they get their mind wiped. And they better hope that the person doing is competent, because if they aren't then you might just end up a vegetable in the hospital; if they are then you'll just have a lapse in memory on what you were doing. I've seen this happen several times to the same person and he just looked like he wasn't there at all, it was quite disturbing.

"And the government. Don't get me started on that. If what feminists thought about governments and societies not too long ago was Patriarchal, they've never seen the hidden, magical side of humanity. They actually legitimately are. To a mass majority of the Pureblood factions, those that had families that held magic for more than five generations believed the only thing women were good for were for fucking, cooking, bearing children, rearing children, and forming alliances by marrying them off to their sons. Of course, not everyone shared that sentiment, but they were in the minority. And now we get down to my reasoning. You see, about ten years ago I warned them that one day magic would become common knowledge to those who didn't possess it and that it would be better to come out with it now on their own terms rather than a camera catching it and uploading it to the most popular video sharing sites and then allowing people to form their own opinions on it without knowing all the facts or intricacies of magic and magical society. And do you know what they did to me for 'opening their eyes' to this? They banished me. I am no longer allowed in the UK for the rest of my days, or at least until someone overturns it. Hell, they may have already but since I don't really care about that world that much anymore I really don't care, I've moved on."

"So why did you support Tabane, then?" Chifuyu asked.

"As a big old bowman's salute to the magical world. A big old 'fuck you' to them and their ideologies. Sure, it may seem petty of me, but I'm sure whatever government is out there trying to keep magic a secret has their hands full, how much easier would it be to just let the secret be sprung loose. We've seen the absolute power of the IS and what it can do with abilities that some may consider magic. There becomes a point where magic and technology become one in the same and are indistinguishable from each other."

"Are you paraphrasing that _Thor_ movie?" she asked.

"Kind of, but the point still remains. The magical community fears what you can do to them and they are much safer now than they were centuries ago during the Salem Witch Trials or other periods of history where Witch Hunts happened," Harry answered.

"So what are you doing here then?" Chifuyu asked once more.

Harry shrugged before answering, "Maintaining your shiny metal exoskeletons and fishing. I don't intend to cause trouble, but to prevent it. Does that answer your questions?"

She noticed the image on his arms, "What is that? They don't act like normal tattoos."

"These? They're nanotech," Harry replied. He had the nanobots beneath his skin to form an intricate sleeve tattoo to appear instead of audio waveforms.

"Nanotech! That's dangerous!" she exclaimed.

Harry pointed casually at her and replied, "Only if you don't know what you're doing. I programmed this batch of buggers myself with custom code and encryption to keep people from messing with them." He conjured another fishing rod and continued, "You know, you're welcome to join me."

"You do realize there are no fish here, right?" she deadpanned.

Harry just shrugged, "That doesn't mean it's not relaxing." (9) Chifuyu only walked away in confusion at all the information she just received while Harry went on to play the refrain from David Bowie's rendition of "The Man Who Sold the World."

XxXxXxX

 **And that's all I got this time around for this pilot. But before I head off to my normal things, I do have numbered notes this time around.**

 **1\. And that's my reference to** _ **Watch_Dogs**_ **.**

 **2\. Here I'm referencing the story "Lightning Dragon's Roar" by Zero Rewind (** id: 10681251 **) where the exact same thing happened.**

 **3\. I know that Harry was a bit OOC in this section, and a little after, but how did they not figure that out? There's only two known uses for the** _ **Patronus**_ **charm which is Dementor repelling and messaging other wizards.**

 **4\. Both a reference to** _ **Watch_Dogs**_ **ctOS as well as the cameras that are live right now in London that the police use (as well as other big cities around the world).**

 **5\. For us Americans: the British version of the middle finger.**

 **6\. Think of the reticle in** _ **Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare**_ **where the AC-130 has that thermal camera, that was the image I was going for whereas the orange squares what you see in some of the trailers for** _ **Ghost Recon: Wildlands**_ **for where the drone has marked enemy soldiers.**

 **7\. (YouTube) watch?v=Qbip5oZVL94. I honestly like this song and I wish I could play it on guitar, but I have no musical talent with the guitar. If anyone's seen the trailer embedded in** _ **Watch_Dogs 2**_ **side mission where you hack yourself inside of Ubisoft San Francisco and see a new trailer. Many people online say that it has a lot of a resemblance to** _ **Cowboy Bebop**_ **in terms of musical tone.**

 **8\. An _Archer_ reference where the pirate virus plagued the office. An absolutely hilarious scene.**

 **9\. This is one of my favorite references from _Stargate: SG-1_ where the pond/lake behind Jack's house has no fish, but yet he always wants to go fish in said lake/pond. It's hilarious in my opinion.**

 **Now on to what I would wish to accomplish in this fic.**

 **Ok, so pairings. As we know** _ **Infinite Stratos**_ **is a harem anime so I am undecided whether or not to pair Harry up with multiple girls or not. The first conflict with this is that all of the students are all underage and it would be beyond awkward for me to write a romance (even if it were a subplot) with 26-year-old and teenage girls. Therefore, I want to either pair him up with one of the teachers like Chifuyu or even Tabane while leaving Ichika and his girls alone in terms of that.**

 **Next is the role that Harry plays in the story. What will he do? Will he be a troll? (Yes.) Will he be able to prevent any specific event that plays out primarily during Season 2 of the anime? Although, I do want him to expose the magical world with how he contributed to the IS project specifically with magic.**

 **In the end, I have to come up with enough ideas to justify a series for this story. As a pilot, though, I had enough for that. But that's all I have for now.**

 **Also, I can't believe I have to say this but please keep reviews pertaining to the pilot or oneshot being reviewed relevant; please don't "review" if you're just going to review spam me about updating a story that you like that I haven't updated in a long time. Seriously, I agree with Quatermass about this where it is excessively annoying and if you do it repeatedly is borderline harassment, you're extremely lucky I have tough skin concerning these things and not overly sensitive. Again, I can't believe I have to put this PSA on my own story archive here; Jesus H. Christ, man.**

 **Regardless though, I'll see you guys again all next time in whatever I do next.**


	23. A DX: MD x Deadman Wonderland oneshot

**So I had another one of those wonderful ideas that you guys tend to love. This time? A** _ **Deus Ex: Mankind Divided**_ **and** _ **Deadman Wonderland**_ **crossover. Why? Well there's a couple of reasons for it. First and foremost is the stealth element that DX has that you can willingly choose to play with or completely ignore. In fact, in both Human Revolution and Mankind Divided they reward you with more experience for taking enemies out non-lethally and finding a way to sneak around them without alerting them. I don't know about the previous two games on PC, but I assume that they used a similar method where you're rewarded more by taking a non-lethal route versus a "genocide run". In fact, in both games there's a very high valued achievement and trophy that are worth a lot of points in both games giving an incentive for achievement and trophy hunters to not kill anyone. Going off on tangents aside, what is Deadman all about?**

 **It's about a secret, shady organization funded by wealthy individuals who want to see "augmented", as in people who are augmented by blood-based abilities that make them superhuman that some shady organization wants to not only exploit for unknown reasons (in the anime) but also sell their fighting to their investors for more money which funds the private prison that they're all located inside of secretly. If you know Deus Ex, then you know it's all about the Illuminati and how they're trying to control the world. In the first two games it's all about this virus called Gray Death that kills off those that the organization deem unworthy of continuing. The newer games are about how they're trying to control the populace through Augmentations. So you can see why I went with this idea. You know, shady people hiding behind proxy soldiers and organizations for their own selfish reasons.**

 **So where does this take place in both stories respectively? In Deadman this story takes place shortly after the sham trial that Ganta goes through. As for DX it takes place right after the end credits of Mankind Divided. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum for Mankind, but Human Revolution's fair game as it came out years ago and I want to use the choices I made from HR that honestly should have made an appearance to make each player's experience unique as I did save Malek in the second journey to Hengsha. I will mention personal choices I made inside the missions for MD, but I will try to keep the big spoilers low key as I really think it was a very enjoyable game.**

 **So what exactly is going to be spoiled? Well… (HR = Human Revolution, MD = Mankind Divided)**

 **HR Unlisted Side Mission "Good Soul"**  
 **HR Side Mission "Shanghai Justice" with the "Super Sleuth" achievement/trophy option**  
 **HR Side Mission "Talion AD"**  
 **HR Missing Link DLC "All of the Above"**  
 **MD Side Mission "01011000"**  
 **MD Side Mission "Fresh Out of the Package"**  
 **MD Side Mission "K is for Kazdy"**  
 **MD "Spokes in Two Wheels" achievement/trophy mission option**

 **Rating: T+ - M due to some violent content or visualizations. As I don't intend to have any intention to have any sexual content, like there is inside of insinuation inside of** _ **Deadman Wonderland**_ **and some indirect context related content in** _ **Deus Ex**_ **, this won't be a problem in this fic.**

 **Disclaimers: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word. The** _ **Deus Ex**_ **franchise belongs to Square Enix and Eidos. Deadman Wonderland belongs to Jinsei Kataoka, Kazuma Kondou, and Viz Media. See the foreword for the rest of the disclaimers.**

 **Fun fact: This used to be a Metal Gear/Crysis/Deadman Wonderland crossover, but now it's not.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

" _Communication over a radio/telephone."_

" **Communication over an intercom/TV."**

XxXxXxX

 _Adam's apartment, Prague. Six months after Marchenko's arrest._

It had been six months since Marchenko was arrested by TF29 with the assistance of Adam Jensen. Life had returned to normal for the citizens of Prague, for the most part. Augs were still looked down upon and suspected for even the smallest of crimes. Did someone steal a wallet? An Aug did it. Someone stole your life savings and used said savings to buy a lifetime subscription to a niche porn site? It was an Aug. Even Adam, a member of Interpol, was not beyond suspicion, although the people that worked with him on a daily basis and knew his character knew otherwise. Due to Jim Miller getting killed by the Orchid poison there was now a new director of TF29 and thanks to Adam's efforts in preventing the entire mass poisoning of the pro-aug politicians he was given his own office like when he had been the head of security for Sarif. Even though he knew that TF29 was more than likely an Illuminati front, he still spent countless nights sleeping on his couch rather than making the trip back to this apartment.

Due to his actions in Detroit, Hengsha, and now Prague he had amassed quite a few allies and contacts. One of the biggest public allies he had obtained was Nathan Brown when he had kept him and the rest of the UN Security Council from drinking the Orchid poison, giving both Adam and augs alike an ally to block the Human Restoration Act. His largest shadow ally was the ever illusive Janus. Adam knew very little about him other than he opposes the Illuminati, he leads the Juggernaut Collective and is friends of a sort with Alex Vega. He also had a friend in the form of an AI that survived Panchea who helped him from time to time, like during the lockdown in Prague six months ago. He had a few others that he could depend on that he had done favors for in the past, like when he was in Detroit, should he call in a marker from people that 'owed him one'. He didn't like to think of people that way, however, he did have to admit that some people have skills that he just didn't have the aptitude for.

Adam sat in his apartment drinking a glass of whiskey, a gift from Prichard when he assisted him recently and smoked a cigarette sitting on his couch. After all, there wasn't any work at the moment from the office. However, he did some odd jobs from time to time to keep himself busy.

While thinking about what he was going to do for the day, other than getting drunk even if his augs could clean out both carcinogen and alcohol out of his system faster than he could naturally, his TV activated on it appeared the avatar of Janus.

 **"Adam,"** he greeted.

"Janus," Adam greeted in turn. "Isn't it a little dangerous to contact me here?"

 **"In most circumstances, yes; however, I have taken precautions as to prevent myself from being tracked. There's been an interesting case over in Nagano Prefecture in Japan, a horrendous slaughter occurred as a middle school class was killed off, all except for one student named Ganta Igarashi."**

"So a kid went postal, it's sad but it happens," Adam dismissively said as he took a drink.

 **"Yes, it does. But does the same postal kid claim innocence and during the trial that takes place a day after the crime with a guilty verdict decided in less than two minutes?"**

Adam paused for a moment. "That's odd."

 **"Unbelievably so. And to add even more oddities to the mix he was sentenced to death while serving time at the private prison Deadman Wonderland."**

"The same prison that lobbied the Japanese government to allow deadly games that can kill the inmates, some of which are there for blue collar crimes, and dodges the UN council on humane actions on a constant basis?"

 **"The same. The Juggernaut Collective has uncovered abnormal cyber traffic headed towards the prison during off hours, and as they don't have access to streaming websites it doesn't explain why they have massive traffic when the 'park' is closed. We want you to investigate."**

"Oh yeah, sounds real simple. And how am I going to get there? Magic?" Adam joked. "A better question is why the Juggernaut Collective is interested in this?"

 **"We believe that the Illuminati are trying to create bioweapons and testing them below the prison."**

"Why do you think that?"

 **"We have access to the child's testimony. He claimed to see a 'Red Man' who floated outside the school window right before his class was slaughtered. The carnage was too much for any kid to pull off alone, especially a non-aug at that, without anyone attempting to stop him. We have contacted an old friend of yours who was willing to take you to Japan, so long as fuel was paid for. Malek, if we are not mistaken."**

"Will I be able to take any weapons?"

 **"Due to the strict laws surrounding the country, if you can sneak it in then yes. We have no idea if your Interpol clearance will allow you permission to carry or not. So it would be advised to primarily rely on small arms and your augs even if Miss Malek could smuggle in larger weapons it would be much harder to go about without them being noticed."**

Adam considered his options, after all, he had nothing better to do. And hurting a possible Illuminati operation as well as getting a kid who may be innocent off the hook of multiple homicides? "Count me in. When do I leave?"

 **"Midnight, you'll get there by morning."**

XxXxXxX

 _Nagano Prefecture Middle School. 8am._

Adam stepped onto the property dressed in the trench coat that many people that knew him called his 'signature look' that the middle school stood on and the first thing that he saw was the fact that from the street he could see the carnage that either the kid or the Red Man caused. It looked like someone blew it up with explosives, although he could tell that it wasn't due to the localized damage that was contained to the one singular classroom itself.

Adam walked right onto the property but was stopped as a burly man wearing a track suit used his arm to block him from going any further. "What's your business here, gaijin?" he asked with more hostility than needed.

With a single thought he brought up his CASIE augmentation and his HUD showed him everything about the man based on his body language. He had hypertension, understandable given the circumstances that the school had gone through the last two weeks. He looked like he was about to have an aneurysm if not a stroke was in his future if he didn't lighten up soon. "I'm a private investigator. A case came across my desk involving what… happened here recently," Adam replied.

"You mean that murderer brat? He got what he deserved," he puffed.

Adam crossed his arms, "Do you really think a kid could cause that kind of localized damage without something like a bomb, and if that is the case why was so the carnage centralized in one classroom and one classroom only with him as the only survivor? The only weapons that could cause that is military hardware. Do you really think the kid snuck onto a military base and stole experimental hardware just to kill his class?"

"And what would make you an expert, gaijin?" the teacher asked, his hands on his hips.

"I'm a retired cop, former member of SWAT, and a former chief of security for Sarif Industries. Trust me, I know my stuff. This kid didn't do what everyone says he did," Adam pressed. He activated the pheromones from his aug, "Don't you think that it was a bit odd that the trial he had gone along a bit too quickly? And how about the defense lawyer that was supposed to defend him turning on him mid-trial?"

The aug was having an effect on him as he calmed down and thought clearly for a moment. "That makes sense for some reason." As soon as the clarity came, it left. "I can't let you be poking around there, Yankee. It's still a crime scene and the police don't want anyone poking around because of structural integrity or something; we had to move the kids in the classroom and above and below the classroom into the gym until a construction company can come in and fix the damage."

"So the classroom hasn't been altered in any way?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Other than what the police took in their investigation, no." Seeing where Adam was going with this the teacher then started to backpedal, "No, I know what you're thinking, no."

"Come on. Say this kid is innocent, don't you want to see justice done?"

"Haven't the families that had their children taken been through enough? They shouldn't be dragged into another investigation that will last rip open recently closed wounds." Adam was going to use his CASIE aug to force his way in but the teacher shook his head, "I'll take you to the room, but I better not catch any flack for this."

"It will be as if I wasn't even here."

The teacher gave him a look of uncertainty but allowed Adam in regardless. They walked into the school and up the stairs to the classroom itself. Several students looked at Adam a bit strangely as they looked through the windows and doors as they tried to guess why a foreigner was there. They approached the classroom and it was both taped off with yellow police tape as well as an electric lock. "They added that to keep the kids out. We have a few kids that are into the occult and séances so it keeps them out too," the teacher explained.

"That won't be a problem," Adam replied as he activated his Remote Hacking aug and quickly unlocked the door. "Open says me." Adam walked inside immediately after it unlocked not seeing the teacher's look of surprise as he didn't notice the obvious augmentations that he had. "Would you mind keeping an eye out, I'll be done shortly?"

"Y-yeah, sure. Take your time."

Adam looked around the crime scene that was still stained with the blood of the children killed earlier. Glass was strewn everywhere; he couldn't take a step without cracking more glass as he stepped on it. Desks were turned towards the wall that the hallway was located at. The blood spatter and spray directionality all came from a primarily central point that radiated away from the outside of the building itself. Adam activated software that he had been given by Interpol to start cataloging the visual data that he saw; the software highlighting bodily fluids, debris, and other evidence that would be used in reconstructing bombs to figure out who made them to further investigate what happened. He finally walked over to where Ganta was found after the attack and saw that where he was a void in the blood, but all directionality traced back once more outside.

The augmented reality software got all of the prompts it needed and began to virtually reconstruct the crime scene to look like it was just moments before the attack. He pressed play and saw everything in slow motion. A human analog was placed outside colored red, Ganta colored green, and the rest of the victims colored in blue. Something entered the building from the rear of the classroom and swept across the room until it reached the front of the room, killing anyone who stood up. Then whatever weapon it was then began to kill indiscriminately in a kind of wave pattern before it stopped. Adam had no idea what kind of weapon could cause this kind of devastation and little outside collateral damage. He originally thought it was a Typhoon, but he had the only prototype that Sarif had so it couldn't be that. The weapon had to be strong, yet malleable to punch through metal and glass alike and rip away the side of a building and be able to kill in a wave-like pattern. The only thing that made sense to him was a liquid metal controlled by electromagnets. A better question entered Adam's mind, why target a classroom full of children instead of heads of state or other influencing bodies?

Adam, now filled with more questions than answers, left the room and closed and locked the door behind him. "So did you find the answers you were looking for?" the teacher asked.

Adam pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a puff. "I have more questions than answers but I can tell you this, the kid was framed," Adam replied.

XxXxXxX

 _Deadman Wonderland. 12pm._

Adam jumped on the soonest train he could to Tokyo to get to Ground Zero of the 'Event', a bizarre chain of very well covered up events that left the now dubbed 'old town' borderline uninhabitable at the furthest rings. No one knew what happened. International news listed it as an asteroid strike while others listed it as a power plant that went and had a full-on meltdown by some terrorist group. Both of the reasons sounded beyond unbelievable but people went on with their daily lives. The private prison cum theme park 'Deadman Wonderland' was based too close to ground zero and connected only by a single suspension bridge to be considered suspicious. As far as locations went it was a smart move as it would be easy to pick off and pick up prisoners as they would either have to pull a repeat of the famous Alcatraz escape or swim to shore.

There were two things that rubbed him wrong from a human rights perspective as the prisoners, primarily those on Death Row were injected with a highly potent poison that took three days to kill and the only way to avoid dying was to ingest candy-like antidote that would only prolong the suffering. The second was the demeaning and highly deadly 'games' that the prisoners competed in for in-prison money. The concept of private prisons was not a new thing as they had been around in the US for quite a while, but this was a blatant violation of human rights.

After getting off the train he made his way to the park's outer gate which was visitor entrance where visitors purchased tickets and parked on the shore. Then the visitors were then taken to the island prison via bus to the inner gate where the park was. Adam didn't need to be told that he needed to leave his external weapons at home (or in this case with Malek) as there were armed guards with machine guns and sniper rifles, something that while he could deal with wasn't something that he wanted to deal with today. Luckily Sarif had him outfitted with the best SpecOps augs that appeared normal on scans but we're anything but, and if shit hit the fan he could take care of it. He had done it before.

He walked up to the kiosk where a woman dressed in a uniform sat, based on the fact that she didn't have a collar on he was willing to bet she was either a civilian working a day job or one of the guards on a non-patrol shift. She looked at him with a slightly suspicious eye and saw that Adam's eyes were cybernetic in nature as his sunglasses were pulled back. "How may I help you today, sir?" she asked with slight condescending on the 'sir'.

"Adult admission for one as well as being able to visit with one of the prisoners," Adam replied.

"May I ask the reason why for your visit, and who the prisoner you wish to speak with is?" she asked as she typed away on her keyboard.

"I'm a private investigator working on a case that requires some information this inmate knows. As for the name, I'd rather not say it aloud." Adam pushed a small slip of paper under the teller window.

The woman's eyes widened as she read the paper. "That-?"

"Now you can see why I didn't wish to say his name aloud. I assume this won't be a problem?"

She stammered as she asked, "Why him?"

"Sorry, client confidentiality clause in all my contracts. Gotta stay in business somehow."

She typed in her computer and began to become more frustrated as the minutes. Eventually, she gave up. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't seem to find him." Adam discreetly activated his Remote Hacking aug and saw on his HUD that she was not lying. "I'm pretty sure it's just a glitch in the system. Why don't you enjoy the park's entertainment and when we find him we'll send you his way?"

Adam raised an eyebrow but relented as he now had rudimentary access to the theme parks schematics as well as basic tracking thanks to the woman's login information. "Thank you."

"Do you have a number that we can call?" Adam gave her the number of a burner phone that Janus had given Malek to give to Adam. "Thank you, we'll call you as soon as we figure this glitch out. And thank you for visiting Deadman Wonderland!"

Adam walked through the security station which lit up as he walked through because of his augmentations. After explaining that he had lost both his arms in a terrorist attack and were completely replaced with cybernetic prosthetics. That must've hit home with one of the security guards because she let Adam through without any further scans. He then went to the bus terminal where other visitors, including young children, bounced uncontrollably in their seats in anticipation of what the park had to offer in entertainment.

As the bus got moving Adam had some time to think. Japan was one of the few countries that were not oppressive to augs unlike other places, like Prague for example. Japan was always the leader in idealistic societal norm changes. It stemmed from influences in the pop culture of the past which gave them even more confidence in their paths with the likes of _Ghost in the Shell_ , _Ergo Proxy_ , and many other titles. In Adam's opinion this made the country much more accepting of augs as a whole, but even they were not spared from the events that happened on Panchea. Adam didn't know why they were so accepting of augs while the rest of the world feared them thanks to the Illuminati's control over three media. Adam didn't have much time to think on it further as the bus arrived at the 'theme park' itself. The bus stopped and as Adam stepped off the bus he activated his sunglasses which snapped right into place.

He began to walk through the park, looking at every little thing he could see and catalog for later. He could see white and blue collar criminals working the concession stands and carnival games; he could tell because they didn't have a timer on their tracking collars that administered the lethal 'three day' poison administered regularly to those on death row in the prison. Behind these stands, he could see fences that hid things behind it. Adam activated his electromagnetic sight Aug and saw the outlines of something ferric, a grate, covering fans that circulated air underground. He made a waypoint note on it for later investigation.

Adam walked further into the park until he reached the center of what could be considered live entertainment in the park, the arena. Based on the information he was given in the brochure it was a daily live event where death row inmates participated in almost always lethal entertainment for the paying public. He had decided before even arriving here to see one just to get an idea of the mindset of the warden as he sanctioned these events and, if his information was correct, approved and planned each of them.

He walked into the arena and stood near the upper portions of the bleachers and stood to watch the event. Adam looked on to the arena with a skeptical eye; something was off about it. The cutesy looking décor, the happy music; it seemed out of place. What brought him back to the fact that this was a prison was the shatterproof glass wall that had to be at least twenty feet high as well as the very blatant guard towers with guards armed with automatic weapons inside them. There was a jumbotron that had the words 'The main show starts in:' followed by sixty seconds written in Japanese.

Adam stood in silence as the numbers counted down until there were ten seconds left and every patron that was in the stands, which were completely packed, counted down from ten to zero. When the timer reached zero the words on the screen disappeared and what replaced it was what Adam thought was the slimiest looking man in the world looked like while dressed in a white suit and carrying a cane whose head was that of the park's emblem.

As the man only spoke Japanese, Adam's augs translated the man's speech and displayed it on his augmented reality HUD. "Ladies, gentlemen, children of all ages! I, Tsunenaga Tamaki, welcome you to Deadman Wonderland's main attraction!" he said, to which caused the audience, except Adam, to cheer. "Joining us today for your entertainment is the F Block inmates; you know them better as death row! Why don't we give them a nice round of 'applause', shall we?" With that everyone in the audience booed as the inmates walked into the arena wearing numbers that you would see Olympic athletes wearing when competing over their prison uniform. "Inmates, take your marks!" the man ordered. They obeyed and took their places in corrals that didn't look any different than old, reused horse racing stalls. "On your marks. Get set. Go!"

The prisoners ran out of the gate and Adam watched in silent horror as several were killed by hidden traps, and the crowd cheered. Even the children who couldn't be any older than five or six were cheering at the prisoners' suffering and death. Adam knew that Japan, and the Far East as a whole, have a different set of moral values than the rest of the world (as it would explain the hell out of tentacle rape hentai), but this? This was something completely different.

It didn't take long until the 'race' was over. In the end over twenty prisoners lay dead on the course while two fought to the death leaving one the winner getting some prize that only really mattered in the prison itself. The crowds started to disperse from the arena and Adam was just disgusted. However, it did show something telling about the warden: he was a sadistic, slimy bastard, that much was for certain.

Adam was going to move on in an attempt to seek more information about the facility when his burner phone rang. "Jenson," he answered.

 _"Mr. Jenson? This is the guest relations desk at Deadman Wonderland,"_ a woman responded. _"I am calling in reference to your request for a meeting with inmate Ganta Igarashi which cannot be processed at this time."_

"Is there a reason why?" Adam asked as he side-stepped a mascot.

 _"This came from the corporate levels. I'm sorry, but I am not privy to that kind of information."_

"Would it be possible to speak with one of his inmates?" Adam asked hopefully. It would be an opportunity to get a closer look at the structure of the prison itself if not getting him close enough to a computer to hack the building's blueprints off of it.

 _"That would be possible, one moment."_ A minute passed before the woman came back on. _"Your request to speak to Igarashi's cellmate, Yō Takami has been approved. Please report to the main administration building and state your name, they'll take you to him."_

Adam disconnected the call and immediately left for the main administration building. After he walked into said building and identified himself he was immediately searched for contraband, to which they found none. He was then led to a visitor's center where there were booths of civilians on one side of the bulletproof glass and a telephone and inmates on the other. He even saw one woman pressing her bare breasts against the glass while the man on the other side, whom Adam assumed was her lover or significant other, watched with rapt attention. He sat down in an empty booth and waited an exceptionally long time.

However, after waiting a whole half hour his replacement interviewee arrived and with a guard escort who sat him down roughly in the chair and was told to 'behave.' He picked up the phone and Adam asked, "You speak English?"

"Moderately well," Yō replied in understandable, highly accented English.

"Good. That will make things easier."

"Why did you want to talk to me?"

"I want to talk about your cellmate, Ganta Igarashi."

"What about him?"

"Has he ever shown any psychopathic tendencies? You know, the kind that gets a jury to convict you in less than five minutes of deliberations, the kind that makes your own defense lawyer turn on you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. He's quiet, but I don't know if it's the shy and innocent kind or the dark and maniacal kind of quiet."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

Adam's CASIE aug noted a heightened level of awareness. "He got transferred," replied Yō. The aug noted that it was a deceptive, fragile truth and not the full truth.

"Do you know where?"

"No." Immediately the young man's heart rate shot up and his breathing increased signifying that this was a lie. Now Adam had to know the reason why. The guards had forcibly brought the man in and told him to behave. Adam also knew that there were complaints from family members that had been registered with the local municipality for the abuse of inmates at the hands of the guards and warden. Perhaps the man was afraid of undeserved punishment?

"Tell me, then, if you were to move Ganta, where would you put him?" Adam asked carefully.

"Somewhere quiet and solitary. Maybe in some deep, dark basement of some kind around here to keep him away from those would seek to harm him specifically because of his age and size."

Adam took a moment to think about those specific words. If there was a basement of some kind it would more than likely be under the administrative building as that would make sense for multiple reasons, if for nothing else than for storage. A cell block wouldn't need underground facilities, would they? They would if they were hiding something; something that they didn't want the public to find out about. Adam had already infiltrated several Illuminati facilities in the past including the DARPA facility in Detroit, Panchea, and the Belltower oil rig that had a hidden secret lab all of which were under the surface of either land or sea. If this was another Illuminati front like the others were, what was to say that they also hiding their secrets under the surface of this very 'innocent' private prison?

"Thank you for your time," Adam said.

As he moved to hang up Yō asked, "Just who are you?"

"A man seeking answers," Adam replied right before hanging up the phone and walking out of the facility.

XxXxXxX

 _11pm local time. Private landing strip._

Adam sat in the passenger bay of the landed VTOL dropship that Malak had been contracted to fly as she was getting paid discreetly by Janus. Adam waited for Janus to get back to them as the Juggernaut Collective were processing the information that he brought back as well as the information they were able to hack via proxy using Adam's phone. Finally, Janus returned to his screen as eniganamous as he always is.

 _"Adam, we've processed the data you've retrieved,"_ Janus said. A 3D blueprint model appeared on the screen showing the prison. _"It appears as though your hunch was correct. There is, in fact, a sublevel below the prison much larger than a shelter or a warehouse to store food or other supplies for the park. Based on the back door we were able to install we were also able to discover that an abnormal power and bandwidth usage heading towards this section of the prison."_ The blueprint then zoomed in on a specific ventilation system. _"These fans lead directly into this section. This will be your point of entry."_

"And I hope that you have a way for me to get inside the park?" Adam asked.

 _"Malak will fly you over the park above the height limit and you'll freefall into the park itself, your Icarus_ aug _taking the place of a parachute. After landing you'll make your way to this_ vent _that will be marked on your map and you'll descend towards the lower levels using your Icarus once more."_

"Estimated resistance level?"

 _"Minimal in the park itself, although they use automated drones to clean the park after hours and there are a few roaming guards. However, they utilize security cameras throughout the park. We should be able to put the exposed ones on a loop long enough for you to sneak past them."_

"Say I do get down there and find some Illuminati bioweapon testing ground, then what?"

 _"Extract any information or willing scientists or individuals willing to expose the program and weapons."_

"How?"

 _"Make your way to the roof of the prison if you are able to stay undetected and Malak will pick you up."_

"And if things go hot?"

 _"Make your way outside and Malak will pick you up there."_

"I don't like this, there are too many variables," Adam commented.

 _"We don't have many options,"_ Janus replied.

"I know."

 _"Then you'll do it?"_

"Begrudgingly. Although, I have gotten into more secure places in the past."

XxXxXxX

 _One hour later. 10,000 feet above Deadman Wonderland._

Adam stood in the door of the VTOL that hovered over the now long closed for the day theme park. The wind whipped around the entrance as the engines kicked up air turbulence.

"We're right above the drop zone," Malak shouted from the cockpit. "I can only sit here for a few more moments before they notice me."

Adam took a deep breath and took a step forward, falling forward out of the VTOL. The air whipped past him, drowning out any sound that could have been made both above and below him. In the corner of his eye, he watched as the point to activate his Icarus aug. Fifty seconds ticked by and the meters quickly wound down until the threshold was reached and Adam activated the Icarus and the electromagnetic lensing field which immediately started to slow him down until he barely made more noise than a leaf blowing. He stood up from a three-point landing and took a look around.

There wasn't a single soul that he could see and he managed to land in between two camera search fields rendering him virtually invisible to their sensors.

"I'm in," Adam reported over his radio.

 _"The path to the ventilation shaft is clear and the cameras are on a loop,"_ Malak reported. _"Or at least that's what Janus said."_

Adam pulled out the first of the only two weapons he brought with him, his Zenith ZAP and held it in a relaxed state of readiness and followed the AR waypoint he could see in the corner of his eye. The other weapon that he currently had holstered was his Zenith CA-40 10mm pistol with a silencer that was loaded with EMP ammo and he had several magazines of AP ammo in his trenchcoat as well in case of a robot that needed killing permanently. He had his lethal augs ready should he need them.

He moved quickly between exposed 'streets' as he made his way past booths that during the day held prizes to be won by children and adults alike. Thus far on his RADAR, there wasn't a single soul or robot around, and that was both a good thing and a bad thing alike.

He approached the gate that separated the 'street' from the backstage area where the shaft was hidden and activated his leg augs and jumped and clambered over the just high enough fence that did nothing more than create a visual barrier between the park's visual side and it's hidden one. Landing without a sound he approached the covered ventilation shaft and punched the lock causing it to break due to his much harder than bone prosthetic arm.

"Are we still hidden?" he asked.

 _"So far there haven't been any alarms both silent and obvious. You're clear to proceed deeper,"_ Malak reported.

Adam lifted the grate and opened it so that there was a human-sized hole. He holstered his ZAP and pulled out his EMP loaded Zenith and aimed it at the fan and fired one round. It impacted the motor and it temporarily shorted out. When the fan slowed to a safe speed to bypass Adam jumped down the shaft. There were a few more fans on the way down but he fired several more rounds into the oncoming fans until he reached the bottom, his Icarus aug once more activating allowing him to land safely without injury.

Adam kept his Zenith out as there might be more cameras or robots that needed to be temporarily disabled. He started to walk and arrived at a dead end: a massive Vault-like door that had the letter 'G' painted on it in one large letter.

"Malak, I've reached the bottom of the shaft, but we've run into a problem," Adam said over his radio.

 _"W..t's_ th _..?"_ Malak asked as the radio slightly broke up.

"There's a large door keeping me out. I'm going to see if I can try and hack it open."

 _"Ro..er."_

Adam approached the door and saw that there was a camera above it and shot it with his Zenith. He knew that the EMP would wear off in less than a minute so he made haste towards the door to see if there was anything to hack to open the massive door. He already saw on his HUD the countdown that showed how much longer the camera was offline hit the halfway mark. He looked and saw no exposed console or wiring that he could exploit to open the door. Adam also didn't see any vents or grates that he could exploit either.

As the timer ran out he activated his camo aug and vanished from the visual spectrum. He moved slowly out of sight as not to tax the processors and hid around the corner from the camera. It came back online and started to sweep the area once more.

It was then Adam had an idea. He pulled out his Zenith once more and waited for the camera's visual range to move away and shot the camera with the EMP once more. He let the charge run out and shot the camera once again. He knew that someone would go out and investigate. He was correct when the door opened and what could only be described in appearance of a _Star Wars_ Stormtrooper walked out to look at the camera.

"Do you see me?" the man asked in Japanese. There was a pause. "It doesn't look damaged to me." Another pause. "Well, we replaced it when that kid showed up a few days ago."

Adam took the opportunity and activated his camo aug and walked right past the Stormtrooper and made his way inside the hidden facility.

He pulled out his ZAP and kept it ready to fire at anyone that surprised him. He followed the single corridor and it led to a very large antechamber that was completely empty, had a large ceiling, and a long down pit that seemed to go on endlessly. In the center was a single pentagonal structure to which the only way to make it across was several bridges that connected to the outsides of the structure. The structure was also several stories high and also appeared to have a single elevator shaft connecting it to somewhere above ground.

He approached the bridge but stopped from crossing it due to a gut feeling. He activated his vision aug and saw the entire floor of the bridge light up in an orange light signifying that there were electrical circuits running through it. He was right to trust his gut as it felt like a trap that would cause his death. He looked around for a console and found one that only had a keycard to scan.

'How to get across?' he thought. "Malak, I've run into a small snag." There was no response, only static. He must've been too deep in the facility for a signal to break through. "Great..."

Adam's HUD picked up a shortwave radio signal coming from the console. 'It could be worth a try,' he thought. He activated his Remote Hacking and immediately saw that their cybersecurity was total trash. He had run into much tougher security in Sarif Industries than what he saw here. Then again, the inmates kept down here probably didn't have augs of the same caliber that he had, or even the equipment to manipulate radio frequencies to hack into computers.

It didn't take long for him to hack through whatever firewalls that the console had. He looked inside the system and saw that each guard that their keycards were keyed to their weight when both armed and armored and if that weight was off within a certain threshold the bridge would give way and the person would fall to their deaths. 'Not a pleasant way to die.'

Adam added his weight under a pseudonym. Once the changes were saved he started to walk across the bridge and it didn't open for him to fall to his death, therefore he knew that he tricked the system, at least for now. He moved slowly as to not trigger the pressure plates by accident.

Once he was across he made his way inside the facility. It was beyond depressing. Gray walls, floors, and ceilings as well as a geometric pattern of paths that made a maze-like pattern in the facility's levels. He hid in a dimmed corridor and waited for a guard to pass by and activated his camo. A Stormtrooper guard walked past him without a partner and Adam reached out and grabbed the guard and held him in a chokehold.

Adam preloaded a Japanese phrase into his HUD. "Ganta Igarashi, where is he?" Adam asked in highly accented Japanese.

"What do you-?" the guard asked.

Adam pressed his ZAP's barrel into the gap between the guard's armor. "Tell me where he is and you get to live," Adam said dangerously. "And don't try anything funny."

Adam could feel that the man's eyes were darting behind his helmet. For all the guard knew Adam had a high powered pistol pressed between the plates of his armor. "On the third level on the outer ring," the guard admitted.

"Which cell?"

"Cell #3801."

"Thank you for your assistance," Adam said right before shooting the guard between his armor plates, the dart piercing right through the bodysuit and into his skin, the dart electrocuting his muscles to the point he passed out. Adam found a closet and threw the unconscious guard into the nearest open closed and sealed it behind him.

Adam carefully made his way up to the third floor of the facility, making sure to stay completely undetected the entire time. He snuck past many guards, cameras, and wandering inmates that the guards were keeping a close eye on.

Once he found the ever elusive cell #3801 he remotely hacked the door open and slipped inside while cloaked. The door closed behind him and his quarry was sitting on the bed.

"Hello?" Ganta asked.

"Speak quietly," Adam replied. Adam activated his remote hacking and set the camera in the room on a ten-minute loop. He then deactivated his active camouflage and revealed himself.

"Who are you?" Ganta asked in a panic.

"A friend."

"What do you want?"

Adam moved out of sight of the observation window on the cell door. "I want information."

"On what?"

"Bioweapons development."

"Bioweapons?"

"Weapons originating from something biological."

"You mean like the Branches of Sin?"

Adam raised an eyebrow, "Branches of Sin, what are they?"

Ganta shifted slightly in a form of discomfort. "Well, they're a power that some people have, every prisoner on this block has, that allows the person to manipulate their blood as a weapon."

"Such as?"

"Well, I can shoot blood bullets, a friend of mine can wield a pair of blades on his arms, and another of us can use their hair as an extension as a highly lethal whip."

That made Adam's eyes widen in realization as that sounded exactly like a weapon that could cause the damage that he saw at the school. "Could these Branches of Sin be used to cause the damage and murder at your old school?" Adam asked.

"You're talking about the Red Man," Ganta said in realization, his eyes widened.

"The Red Man? Who's he?"

Ganta clenched his fists, his eyes started to tear up. "He killed my entire class. He's the reason I'm in here."

"Listen, I'm sorry for what happened to you. It's horrible and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But I need something from you to help me."

"You said that you were a friend, are you getting me out of here?" Ganta asked hopefully.

"I have friends inside the Juggernaut Collective," seeing as that left a blank on the kid's face he added, "an elite hacking group. They can help get you out of here but I need raw footage that bioweapons are being developed here. What do they do to you guys down here anyway?"

"They experiment on us. Make us fight to the death. They take organs of the surviving losers without anesthesia."

"Do you know if they record any of these fights? If I am to get you out of here and get this place closed once and for all I'm going to need solid proof of this."

"I don't know if they store them, but they do stream us to unknown benefactors that support the prison publically."

Adam raised an eyebrow. "So they're funding the prison through a super powered Fight Club?"

"Yeah, we don't know who they are and they always have their pictures replaced with animals when they appear."

"Do they speak or anything?"

Ganta shook his head, "No, they just watch. If they say anything it's well after we're gone from the arena."

'If I were a prison "promoter" that is slimy as fuck that probably blackmails his sponsors to keep coming back, where would I hide the streams or servers?' Adam asked himself. "Where's the most secure place here?"

"I think there's some kind of control booth that the Promoter sits in when he makes us fight."

'That would certainly be a decent place to start.' "Kid, do you want to get out of here?" Adam asked.

"I want to, but I can't, they'll find me or I'll die from the poison," he said sadly.

"That collar won't be that bad of a problem, so long as it isn't rigged with an explosive," Adam said as he showed his nanoblade before putting it away, "but that poison will be a problem. Where is the antidote located at?"

"It's in the cafeteria but is regulated through Cast Points and kept inside tamperproof machines."

'This could be a small issue. Especially if the star witness was dead because of neurotoxin.' "Can you make your way there and get this antidote?" Adam asked.

"I can't, I don't have enough Cast Points to get some."

Adam pinched his nose, "You are not making this any easier. Listen, find someone that you trust and promise them that you'll bring them with you when we leave if they get you that antidote. Got it?" Ganta nodded. "I'm going to be being as quiet as possible, so please don't raise any alarms." With one last nod Adam activated his camo once more, disappearing; the only thing that could have alerted anyone of his presence in the room being the opening and closing of the cell door.

XxXxXxX

Adam made his way towards the center of the cell block which was, if what he heard was true, was the arena that the prisoners would have to fight to the death in. The area heading towards the arena was quite under-defended. If it weren't for the fact that Adam saw where their movements were he would assume that this was a major trap.

He hacked the keypad outside the secret room that overlooked the large arena and walked inside, the nearest guard far away. The door closed behind him and he looked for any terminals. There were two, one sat near the window that overlooked the arena and there was one near the back. He went for the one closest, the one near the window. It was unlocked and only showed several messages on it, one of which is a notice from the Promoter to back up the most recent performance to the servers. Adam then turned his attention to the other computer in the somewhat luxurious viewing area and hacked his way past a Level 5 encryption. He hit the jackpot.

Inside were hours upon hours of footage of the so-called fight club that these prisoners, some of which were falsely imprisoned, were forced to take part in as well as follow-up reports which involved detailed descriptions on how they removed each body part that was extracted as well as what the effects these Branches of Sin had on the organs. The closest thing that Adam had seen before now that had been of this level of brutality was the Belltower oil rig he had infiltrated when he left Hengsha. He immediately started a copy of all the most recent video files as well as the medical files he could get his hands onto a removable drive he had kept on him.

He heard footsteps outside the door and immediately turned off the screen, activated his active camo, and hid behind the oddly placed waist-high wall next to it. A few seconds later the door opened to reveal two guards dressed in Stormtrooper-white armor carrying high caliber rifles.

"So what are we checking out?" one asked as he waved his rifle's flashlight over Adam's head.

The other looked over towards the window that overlooked the arena. "Apparently there's been a data breach in here and the Promoter wants us to check it out," the second replied.

The first approached on of the computers across from Adam. "You sure? There's fuck-all here."

"The Promoter said something's here, so even if there's nothing here we still have to move as he says. This place is kinda fucked, isn't it?"

"What is?" the first asked.

"Making these Branches of Sin prisoners fight for those hidden sponsors," the second replied.

The first just shrugged. "Then you shouldn't have accepted the job down here as an Undertaker."

"Why'd you take the job, surely you can't be entirely ok with all this?"

"The pay was better. The wife's got another baby on the way and I need the money to start up a college fund for the little guy. Sure, I'm not entirely alright with the way things are run down here but these guys are all prisoners all accused of horrendous things. Why'd you take the job then?"

"Same as you, the money called to me," the second replied. "Although, had I known what was going on here I would have passed on the Promoter's offer."

The first only nodded, "Yeah, that Promoter is something else. He has some serious issues if you ask me."

"On what knowledge, what you got out of your college freshman psych class?" the second laughed.

"Hey! You don't need a psych degree to see that the Promoter has something wrong with him. I can understand dark humor, but he's something completely different."

Adam activated his TESLA aug and targeted the two Undertakers. They both only got off a startled "Huh" as they heard static buildup before they immediately seized up and fell to the ground unconscious. Adam deactivated his cloak and allowed himself to appear once more. Adam turned the monitor back on and watched as the download finished. He disconnected himself from the network after deleting any trace of himself being there; sure, they would know SOMEONE was there, just not him specifically. He noticed a seam in the wall and pried it open to see an elevator shaft that leads straight up.

Adam got ready to leave the office when he had an idea. He carried the two guards into the corner and stripped the one of them that looked close to be his size and stripped the armor off of him. The then took off his trench coat and hid it where no one would find it but him in the room. He meticulously put on the Stormtrooper-white armor to look exactly like the still armored guard that was also knocked out. He placed the helmet on his head and was dissatisfied with the standard HUD that it had and deactivated it allowing him to see with his own, customized HUD that he was used to. He hefted up the bulky assault rifle (which fired shells that should've been against most Geneva convention laws) that the Undertaker held and walked out into the hallway and started towards Ganta's room. The other Undertaker guards were completely unaware of the enemy in their midst.

A few of the guards that he passed either nodded or waved casually at him, which he returned as he didn't want to give up his cover so easily. When he arrived at Ganta's cell he opened the door and held his rifle at rest. "Kid, it's me," Adam said, the helmet distorting his voice to sound staticky. "Did you get in contact with your friend?"

"She's waiting in her cell," Ganta replied.

"Good. Now listen very carefully, play along and we should be able to get out of here under their noses," Adam ordered. "Don't say a word and don't get jumpy or this trip will be over real fast." Ganta nodded in affirmation. "Good, now stand in front of me, I'm going to have to nudge you with the barrel of the rifle, just run with it." Ganta nodded and then did as Adam asked.

They walked through the doughnut-like corridors that wrapped around with spokes leading off to create as much confusion as possible; especially if there were to be an organized breakout. In fact, as they walked towards the room that Ganta leads him to, no one really spared them a glance, as if this happened quite often. They reached the room several tense minutes later and the cell door opened to reveal a young woman wearing a cream-colored dress.

"Minatsuki, it's time to go," Ganta announced.

Her demeanor seemed to change from slightly happy to see him to worried. "Are you insane! There's an Undertaker behind you!" she whisper-shouted.

"He's not an Undertaker, he's…" Ganta paused. "Who are you again?"

"You don't know who he is?" she deadpanned.

Adam could only roll his eyes. "My name is Adam Jenson, I'm with Interpol," Adam answered. "However, I'm investigating this facility for a friend who is a member of the Juggernaut Collective."

"The hacking group?" Minatsuki asked.

"The same."

"Why does a hacking collective want to free us?"

"That is neither here nor now," Adam said succinctly. "We only have a limited time until they discover the three people I knocked out, especially the one that I stole this armor from. The sooner I get you out of here, the better."

"What about the others?" Minatsuki asked. "It's unlike Ganta to leave anyone behind."

"The Juggernaut Collective intends to release all the files I stole from their servers to the public. There will be little support for Deadman Wonderland from the public. And the others who massively invest in your cockfights, for the lack of a better word, will also pull out else they be exposed."

"What about the collars? They're able to track us wherever we go."

"They only transmit your location when they're secured and locked in place, the instant I remove them they'll immediately know something's up and will start a lockdown and search every corner until you're found, that will blow my cover as they'll discover the three guards I knocked out. I'll remove them once we get to a point at which we can't be stopped." Adam looked around outside the cell. "We need to move now. Do you have the antidote?" She nodded. "Good, wait until I remove the collars before taking it; you don't want to have more poison in your system when you just got rid of it."

Both of them only nodded and started to walk in front of him like Ganta had before. As they made their way back to the private suite that the Promoter used a pair of Undertakers stopped them. "What are you doing with those prisoners?" one asked.

"The Promoter wants to see them. I was told not to ask questions," Adam replied, using an accurate Japanese translation.

The Undertaker seemed to nod in affirmation. "Yeah, it's best just to do as the Promoter asks, lest you get assigned somewhere you don't want to be," he said and stood aside to allow them to pass.

The three of them continued carefully to the secret booth but were not given a second glance by any of the Undertakers. Once they were inside the booth Adam made sure to close and lock the door and removed the Undertaker armor he had on and replaced the armor with his trenchcoat.

"Ok, now what?" Minatsuki asked impatiently.

Adam pressed a button on the wall which let out the tell-tale sign of an elevator 'ping'. Less than a minute later false walls opened to reveal an elevator. "That's our way out," Adam revealed. They stepped in and Adam immediately used his augmented strength to rip apart the locks that held the collars in place from both Ganta and Minatsuki and tossed them inside the room. Immediately, the doors closed and an alarm started to blare.

Then a realization came over Ganta, "That's why you waited to remove them. If you did so before then the elevator would have been locked down and we wouldn't have a way out."

"That's one way of looking at it," Adam replied as he pulled out his Zenith and checked the slide to ensure a round was in the chamber.

As the elevator rose Adam started to hear the static on his radio. _"Adam, come in,"_ Malak said.

"I'm here, Malak."

 _"Oh, thank God,"_ she said in relief. _"What happened?"_

"Oh, nothing. I just picked up the kid from the school killing and his friend," Adam replied nonchalantly.

 _"What?! How do you know this friend isn't, oh I don't know, a psycho?"_

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The kid, the witness of the attacks, wouldn't leave without his friend."

 _"Fine, but if this comes back to bite us, I blame you."_

"And I'll willingly accept that if that happens. Track my signal and prepare for immediate pickup and dust-off."

 _"Copy that, Adam. I'm on my way."_

Adam then closed the channel and raised his pistol, aiming at the door. As it opened he saw the smug looking face of the Promoter of Deadman Wonderland. Adam pointed his weapon at the Promoter and said, "One word, and you catch a bullet in the face." The Promoter, still with his shit-eating smugness, nodded quickly and Adam gestured to a chair with his gun, to which the Promoter obliged.

The Promoter saw Ganta and Minatsuki and noticed that neither of them had their tracking cum execution collars on. "Curious, how did you-," he asked before he was rudely interrupted by a silenced 10mm round embedding itself in the arm of his chair, the barrel of Adam's Zenith still smoking.

Adam pressed two fingers to his ear and said, "Janus, I'm sending the info packet now."

 _"Adam, I would advise not sending it now,"_ Janus replied in his scrambled voice.

"If I don't start transmitting it now then there's a chance that you might not get any of the information at all. I'll start with documents before I start with the video."

Janus paused to give the option some thought. _"Very well, I've secured a secure channel and server. Start the transmission at your discretion."_

Adam did so but kept his eye (and gun) on the Promoter. "If I might be so bold to ask," the Promoter started, still oddly calm, "what documents and video are you talking about?"

Adam's eyebrow was raised for but a moment at that question. "Information, that once released to the world, will make you and your little theme park the most hated man and place in the world. Hell, some might compare you to a certain hated German historical figure and the place he ran. Based on what I saw and what the public will soon see, you'll be lucky if you aren't killed by one of the relatives of your inmates in some dark alley the day after," Adam replied.

The Promoter's eyes seemed to widen. "You can't do this!" he exclaimed.

Adam pointed his gun at the Promoter's head. "Maybe you should've been more ethical in your treatment of other human beings, regardless of how despicable they are; oh, and the false imprisonment of several inmates. Who knows how many are here that are actually innocent? But the Collective will figure that out."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" the Promoter yelled in a complete break in 'character'. "You don't get it, do you? What will happen if those two leave."

Adam made sure to get in his face, his gun pointed at the man's gut, and replied, "Enlighten me, then."

The Promoter seemed to whisper in Adam's ear, but the other two could clearly hear him. "There is an unlisted prisoner here that we keep under wraps. It goes by the callsign 'Wretched Egg'. It is connected to young Ganta there, although we don't know the exact reason why it would 'imprint' on him and have some kind of obsession with him. If he were to leave this facility, the Wretched Egg will once again break containment and wreak havoc on anyone in its way to find him, including many innocents."

"And why pray tell, is this person still alive?" Adam asked. "If they're such a threat to public safety why weren't they killed then?" Don't get Adam wrong, he would prefer not killing anyone, well maybe except this Promoter asshat, but he wanted to know the reasoning. Logic dictated that if such a threat, and an unstable one with an obsession, existed then it would be logical to eliminate that threat entirely.

"The researchers don't have the stones to kill their precious test subject, as well as the fact that said subject is a teenage girl," the Promoter revealed.

"This is rich, coming from the same guy who pits teenage girls and boys alike against each other to the death," Adam sardonically replied.

 _"Adam, we have the documents,"_ Janus said over the radio. _"My God, it's more horrible than we would have ever thought."_

"I'm going to start sending the footage. I can already tell that it will take longer due to the terabytes of files I managed to collect." Adam then turned his attention to the Promoter once more. "You know, if I were to kill you now it would solve a lot of issues all at once."

"You wouldn't do that," the Promoter replied, "you're a cop." Adam seemed surprised to hear that. "I know your type, the specific way you hold yourself, the way you speak. It's obvious to anyone who looks close enough."

"You're right about that," Adam admitted. "But do you know what cops do? They protect and serve the public. And you're currently developing and harboring a bioweapon, which is against international law, meaning that you're a threat to the public. Do you know what that means?" Adam asked dangerously.

"But it's not a bioweapon! It's the next stage in human evolution!" the Promoter exclaimed.

"If that were the case you wouldn't be using as a weapon, using children and other innocents as experiments to test it in your little Fight Club that you stream to unknown benefactors. Next evolution my ass, all you care about is the money."

 _"Adam, I just entered the park's airspace, I'll be there momentarily,"_ Malek said over the radio.

"Copy that," Adam replied. He then turned his attention to the Promoter once more and activated his TESLA. "I've heard enough from the likes of you." He released the charge and the Promoter's body seized as the non-lethal electrical current ran through his body. It was certainly painful, but he'd live to see his little empire crumble beneath him. He turned to the two teens, "Follow me."

The followed the man closely out of the office and to the nearest staircase which leads to the roof. The door was locked, but Adam used his superior augmented strength and punched the door open without any issue. They looked out at the park below, whose guards were currently ushering guests into safe zones as the alarm that was tripped was the alarm of a general riot from the prison blocks. Adam could see Malek's aircraft coming in fast and stopped almost on a dime just off the side of the building and opened the side door.

"Move," Adam said before jumping the small two-foot gap between the edge of the roof and the VTOL. Adam braced himself by grabbing the handrail inside the passenger bay and held out his hand, to which Minatsuki was the first to grab his hand. He pulled her inside and did the same for Ganta. Once they were both inside Adam closed the door and shouted to Malek, "Punch it!"

Immediately the two teens were thrown back into their seats as the VTOL shot forward, speeding away from Deadman Wonderland. Guards who had barely managed to see the aircraft leave the park mistakenly thought that the Promoter had fled the island prison, but they wouldn't realize their mistake until the next day when the news started rolling in from every channel in every country.

XxXxXxX

" **Deadman Wonderland: Private Prison or Private Bioweapon Testing Grounds?"**

" **Condemning documents and video were released by the Juggernaut Collective earlier today revealing human experimentation and fighting rings inside the prison."**

" **There has been a major pushback from human rights activists in the recent reveal of the inhumane conditions being held as the standard at the well-known private prison-cum-theme park."**

" **Japanese courts flooded with appeals from Deadman Wonderland prisoners who claim to be imprisoned under false pretenses."**

" **Deadman Wonderland shut down by Interpol pending an investigation into allegations of human rights violations, human experimentation, and many other potential charges."**

" **Charges have been filed with The Hague to prosecute Tamaki Tsunenaga, otherwise known as the 'Promoter', for war crimes under international law. He would be the first non-combatant to be charged with such crimes outside of wartime since the end of the Second World War."**

" **Infamous Deadman Wonderland figure, the Promoter, was arrested by Interpol after hiding out for several weeks."**

" **Tamaki Tsunenaga was found dead in his cell this morning in alleged suicide."**

" **Former inmate Ganta Igarashi was released earlier today, cleared of all charges previously levied against him. Former inmate Minatsuki Takami was also released on bail pending a full investigation into her alleged charges."**

"I assume everything went according to plan?" a man asked.

"All loose ends have been terminated," a second replied.

"And the boy and girl that were released?" a third asked.

"We have agents watching them, although with their nature already revealed to the public they will be left alone. Should they stand against us they will be terminated, but otherwise all we'll do is watch," the second replied.

"And the Wretched Egg?" the first asked.

"It's currently in the wind, however, we haven't seen any increase in violent murders around Japan nor the world, outside of warzones. We believe she is laying low," the second replied.

"Should we dispatch agents to recover her?" a fourth asked.

"It'd be too risky," the third replied. "Without the subconscious melody of the Mother Goose System, she'd tear apart any agents sent to capture her."

"Should she be terminated then?" the first asked.

"Perhaps we could convince her to join us?" a fifth asked.

"All in favor?" the first asked. Seven raised their hands. "Opposed?" Only four raised theirs. "Then it is been decided, an agent will be sent with an invitation."

"And Jenson?" the third asked.

"For now he unknowingly works for us. The closer he gets to this Janus character the sooner we can dispose of both of them and continue with our plans."

 **The end.**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go. Finally done! This oneshot was seven months in the making (primarily due to laziness and writer's block). You guys don't know how good it feels to finally have this one done. There aren't any numbered notes this time around, which is shocking, I know.**

 **As you can see I clearly diverted from canon** _ **Deadman Wonderland**_ **in both the manga and anime. I found this dabbling interesting and it was fun at times. Originally I was going to have a fight scene, but due to the sneakiness that I had already established I figured that it made more sense to just sneak on out. I did want to portray more augs that he had, but again due to the previous point it was made impossible. As for the elevator? It would make sense as Tamaki would want a fast way to get down to his private fight club without having to go through all those security checks; plus, he would have to do it all without being seen. We see an elevator in the anime that's in his office, but we don't really know where it goes so I just decided to go with this instead.**

 **But anyway, that's all I have this time around. For those of you that like my numbered notes, don't worry I'm pretty sure that I'll have some in the next installment as that's what I do. But what did you guys think? Was it interesting? What did I excel in? What could I have done better? Let me know in your reviews (but remember no flames).**

 **Until next time!**


	24. A HP x SW: Rebels pilot

**So, unsurprisingly I have another idea. This one piggybacks off of many stories out there where Earth is discovered by the Empire and then things happen to it. Everything ranging from everyone on Earth being enslaved by the Empire to Earth joining the Empire because humans.**

 **So I started thinking; how can I twist this in my favor for a story? So I started looking back at one of my favorite authors Darth Marrs here on the site and his story "Revenge of the Wizard" (id: 10912355) where something like what I described happens and Harry pretty much escapes a mining prison colony and basically joins up with the Rebellion to destroy the Empire which destroyed his home. So I will be taking some inspiration from his story, note: some and not all.**

 **So how am I going to make this work? So I've been really enjoying the new** _ **Rebels**_ **series so I'm going to use that as my foothold into this whole thing. This story is intended to take place before and move onward from Rebels into the Original Trilogy. But Then I have to decide where I will place in the Rebels storyline. I was thinking basing this story around Season 2 as I have seen all of season 2 can run the events through this without confusing too many things inside of Rebels. Especially since season 2 is where old characters make a reappearance in the SW franchise. So therefore I will set the setting here. This is also my chance to do a much darker story for Harry and his crew of miscreants which includes personal tragedy.**

 **Rating: T – T+ for references regarding blood and some language. Rating may be stepped up for other content.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my laptop and my copy of MS Word.** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney and** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling. I also do not own products or characters that may appear in name and attitude, I only own original characters. Full disclaimer in the foreword.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

XxXxXxX

 _Unknown._

'How could have everything gone wrong?' Ezra thought. If anyone were to look on the young Jedi in training they would see him and his companions tied to metal chairs with burlap sacks over their heads. Neither Ezra or Kanan could feel the Force, it was like standing in the middle of a void devoid of all energy. They could hear breathing in the room, but they couldn't tell whether it was each other or if it was from others in the room with them. 'How could this have happened?'

XxXxXxX

 _36 hours ago. Chopper Base._

The crew of the _Ghost_ assembled in the command center of Chopper Base on the orders of Commander Sato. The commander walked in and greeted the crew, "Thank you for coming so quickly."

"Of course," Hera replied. "What do you need our help with?"

He tapped a few buttons on his wrist device and a hologram appeared on the conference table in the form of an emblem or sorts. "This is the insignia of the 44 Immortals, an anti-Empire guerilla group."

"Guerilla group?" Ezra asked.

"Like the Rebellion, only much more savage," Sato replied. "They are responsible for multiple massacres of Imperial bases. No soldier was left alive." He then pressed a button and several slides were shown from what looked like was from a surveillance drone's perspective. Imperial Stormtroopers, pilots, and officers were left dead in pools of their own blood, something that was off since blasters cauterized flesh upon impact. Armor was cracked from what looked like impact strikes from slugs, which must have been fired from something incredibly powerful as it took quite a bit to get through Phase II armor that wasn't the underbody suit. "I see you noticed the wounds, they're from incredibly advanced slugthrowers."

"Slugthrowers?" Sabine asked. "That's old school-," she blanched a bit at the blood, "-but effective."

"Indeed. From what reports we were able to get our hands on, they were killed by incredibly small flechettes fired by electromagnetic acceleration, not unlike Verpine rifles. The leader of each base is always killed with two shots in the heart, and one in the head."

"That's-," Zeb trailed, but Sato finished.

"The calling card of their leader whom is only known as Death's Hand."

"That's a bit…," Sabine trailed.

"Pretentious?" Ezra finished.

"No one has ever seen his face, nor any of his comrades either," Sato continued. "Only those that are dead have seen it."

"How is that possible?" Hera asked.

Sato pressed another button showing the image of a man, but around his head was a white aura that completely obscured his facial features. "And before you ask, no, this footage is not edited in any way. Somehow this group has figured out how to keep themselves completely anonymous to the public. Rumors in Imperial Intelligence is that they're driving themselves up the wall trying to find out who these people are."

"While this is interesting, what do you want us to do about it?" Zeb asked.

Sato pressed another button and a map of Nar Shaddaa appeared. "We've gotten word that an Imperial ship belonging to Imperial Intelligence was spotted heading towards the Smuggler's Moon. One of our sources says that they've found the most recent 'lair' that the 44 Immortals have been using and are going to attempt to either arrest or kill them. Command wants you to provide assistance and convince them to join the Rebellion."

"There's an ulterior motive on the Rebellion's part, isn't there?" Ezra asked.

Sato sighed, "This group has highly specialized, boots on the ground training that isn't normal to see from defectors. The higher-ups want these men to train our ground troops to become more effective."

"It sounds pretty simple: get in, help them out, get them to help us out in return," Sabine replied chipperly.

"We can only hope that it will be that simple. Godspeed, and may the Force be with you."

XxXxXxX

 _Nar Shaddaa (The Smuggler's Moon). 8 hours later._

The _Ghost_ crew walked through the crime-ridden streets of Nar Shaddaa warily. Thy had to leave Chopper and Zeb on the _Ghost_ to keep thieves away from the ship.

"So where exactly are we going?" Sabine asked.

"The nearest cantina," Hera replied. "You can find all sorts of information from bartenders if you know how to ask them."

They walked on for a while before Hera led them into a cantina. There didn't seem to be any type of bouncer so it was assumed that those that were underaged came in all the time and didn't bother to filter anyone out. They approached the bar itself where no one looked at them funny other than to evaluate whether they were a threat or not. Based on the fact that no one objected to two minors being in the cantina reinforced the previous thought that they didn't care who came in. There was live music being played by a band of misfits that you would never assume would get together to play. The bartender, a human with a Corellian accent, walked over to his new customers and asked, "What's your poison?"

"I'm looking for information," Hera replied showing the corner a credit chip beneath her hand on the bar.

The man's eye caught the glint of gold and replied, "It depends on the information."

"My companions and I are looking for someone, well, more like a group," Hera carefully replied.

The man had a pint glass that he was polishing, his eye still on the slightly exposed credit chip. "I can't help you if you don't give me a name."

"The 44 Immortals." With Hera's reply, the response was almost immediate, almost comical even. The music immediately stopped, every patron in the bar looked at them in horror and shock, and the bartender froze and the glass in his hand slid out and shattered on the ground, the sound of breaking glass filling the once bustling and noisy cantina.

"Are you karking man, woman!?" the bartender shouted. "Those guys are complete psychopaths!"

Ezra didn't need the Force to tell that the man was genuinely terrified. Kanan let his hand drift to his blaster in case it was needed. "There's no need to flip out," Kanan said in an attempt to keep the peace.

"You don't get it, do you?" the bartender asked incredulously. "Have you seen what they've done to Imps? I normally have no sympathies towards them, but when the 44i get involved for once I feel sorry for them. The Imps must've done something horrid to them to make them do what they do."

"Just point us to them and we'll be out of your hair. We'll make sure that we won't even mention where we got the information," Hera reassured the bartender.

The bartender only scoffed, "It's your funeral." He pulled out a piece of flimsy and scrawled down an address before handing it over. "That's the neighborhood in the warehouse district where they were last spotted in. If you want to get yourselves killed, be my guest."

The _Ghost_ crew quickly made their way out of the cantina and looked for a speeder to use to get to the warehouse district. The trip there was quite short and no words were exchanged, however, there was an air of dread surrounding the area. They landed and made their way towards the warehouses when something felt off.

Kanan allowed the Force to guide them towards a warehouse in particular when all of a sudden Kanan and Ezra suddenly felt cut off from the Force. Before either Hera or Sabine could ask what was wrong they grabbed their necks and pulled out a small silver dart and immediately collapsed, Kanan and Ezra ignited their lightsabers but were completely ineffective against the darts as the Force was suddenly cut off from them as they too caught a silver dart in their necks and fell to the ground as well.

Ezra's vision dimmed but before he completely succumbed to unconsciousness he was able to spot a black leather gloved hand picking up both his and Kanan's lightsabers and a black boot appeared in front of his line of sight.

"Take them to the boss," a grizzled human said.

To which a resounding reciprocation of, "Yes, sir," sounded. A second later Ezra lost consciousness.

XxXxXxX

 _Many hours later._

As Ezra finished recounting how they got there, he heard the sound of boots approaching. They stopped as there was what sounded like something being lit on fire before whatever it was inhaled then exhaled several seconds later. "This them?" a younger voice asked someone in the room who sounded like he had a Core World accent.

"Indeed it is," the grizzled man from before answered. "The bartender tipped them off."

"Oh really?" the younger voice asked borderline disinterestedly. "Send one of our guys, wipe his memory." There was what sounded like someone snapping three times quickly before someone else quickly moved out of the room. "Do it."

Immediately all four hoods were removed from the heads of the _Ghost_ crew. What they saw in front of them shocked them. There was a young man, someone that appeared to be no older than Ezra, who had dark black hair that looked like it needed to be combed, emerald green eyes that seemed to glow with an inner power, and a jagged scar on his forehead that looked like it had healed a long time ago. In his hand, he held a burning stick that looked like a stick of Spice but smelled much worse than one should be when burned. He had a shoulder holster that held a weapon in it that looked similar to many DL models, but it wasn't quite the same. The crew looked around the room and saw that there were several human men and women wielding slugthrowers, but they had never seen such designs before. They all wore some kind of body armor on their torsos and command gauntlets on their wrists.

"I'm going to only ask this once: why are you here?" the young man asked, bringing their attention to him once more.

"Who are you?" Ezra was the first to ask.

The man only gave him a sharp look and Hera replied, "We were looking for you and your friends here."

"I gathered that, people don't wander down in this area unless they have business to attend to. Most of which are droid run," the man interrupted.

"We wanted to approach you and your group to join the Rebellion," Hera added.

The man only laughed in a way that could only be considered condescending. "I've heard of your little 'Rebellion' and I'm not impressed," he replied as he took a puff from his stick.

"We're just getting started and are gaining more members each day," Ezra blurted out.

The man got really close to Ezra, allowing the burning, acrid smoke to get in his face. "Do you know why we fight? Do you know what the Rebellion fights for?"

"I don't know what you fight for, but I fight for-," Ezra started before being cut off.

"Not YOU, but the Rebellion," the man interrupted. He took a few steps back before continuing on, "The Rebellion fights to restore the Old Republic. A noble goal, but pointless in the long run."

"Pointless!?" Hera said in surprise. "The Republic-."

"Was easily corruptible," the man interrupted. "Allowing corporations and companies seats in the Senate, allowing them to interfere with the common man's life. Just take the occupation of Naboo by the Trade Federation in the last galactic century as one example." He then leaned in on Hera. "What has the Republic done for your people, twi'lek?"

"They gave us freedom from the Separatists during the Clone Wars."

"But what about the centuries and millennia before that, hmm? Before the Ruusaan Reformation they could have easily stopped the slave trade in the Outer Rim, especially on Ryloth, but didn't. Before the Republic's fall your senator had the ear of the then Chancellor and yet the slave trade didn't stop either. What does that tell you?" he rhetorically trailed that thought off. "The Republic started as a good government, but it became corrupt and no one fixed it for millennia where it rotted the very institution from the inside out, allowing for this Empire," he spat, "to form.

"But you want to know my story, don't you? You see, my men and I are from this little, out of the way world just beyond Wild Space that the Empire discovered a little over a decade ago. You see, for us this was our first encounter with an intelligent extraterrestrial species. And do you know what the result was? The Twelve-Hour War."

"The Twelve-Hour War?" Sabine asked.

The man approached her and placed a hand on her chin. "You know, it's kind of strange; you sort of look like my little girl if she were a little older," he mused with a sad smile before releasing her. "The Twelve-Hour War was what our people call the first contact with the Empire. There were those from our past that theorized that there would either be a civilization that would be benevolent and uplift us into a new global Golden Age or malevolent and try to enslave or destroy us for resources. We got the latter. For the first time in our history, the respective nations of our planet banded together under a single army, navy, and air force. We owned the ground, the sea, and the air. The slow massive walkers used by the Empire were outmaneuvered by our tanks. Their Stormtroopers outfought by our ground troops which were more highly trained. Our skies ruled by our fighters with the excessive speed, faster and longer range weapons, and better pilots. The seas by our naval fleets. We held the home field advantage and knew our planet better than anyone else. But there was one thing that we didn't have any control of-."

"Space," Kanan finished, to which the man nodded.

"For all of our victories on our planet, there was one remaining obstacle: their Star Destroyer. Some of our bravest stowed away on a transport shuttle with enough explosives to destroy a city block boarded the Destroyer and didn't expect these brave men and women. They fought their way to the main reactor and strapped as many packs of explosives to the core before detonating it with themselves on it. Everyone around the world cheered in unison at our victory, but that all ended quickly as an entire fleet dropped out of hyperspace and started bombarding massive population centers from orbit. In these population centers, only one out of every ten-thousand people survived those assaults. Government centers were bombarded with extreme prejudice leaving our world leaderless. Dissenters, like yours truly, were arrested and watched as our loved ones were executed in front of us." For a brief moment both Ezra and Kanan could have sworn they saw the man's eyes flash an acidic yellow that Sith and Inquisitors were known for as he thumbed a necklace of sorts around his neck. "I saw my wife and son killed right in front of me. My daughter was taken by them because she showed 'promise'.

"I was sent to the mines of Kessel where I toiled away for years before I networked. I found allies from my homeworld and we staged a revolt, allowing us and many others to escape. We made our way back to our homeworld to see it in tattered ruins. In the seven years we were away they had stripped the world bare and left a Moff to look over the remaining population who were treated little better than slaves. I and my forty-three brothers and sisters that day formed a pact where we would destroy everything that the Empire had built and none of us would be truly dead until the Empire was dead. A war of attrition for what they took from us. We found a small conclave of scientists that managed to stay off the Empire's radar and they too joined our cause. We modified our weapons for familiarity but made them much more advanced than anyone would have seen our homeworld before the Empire arrived. And thus began our war against the Empire. We show them the same amount of mercy that they showed us."

There was an odd silence to which everyone in the room carefully thought over the words of this unnaturally young leader. Finally, Kanan broke the silence, "Why can't we feel the Force?"

The man stood up and walked over to what looked like a terrarium. "Fuzzy Lumpkins here is part of a species that nullifies the Force. Except they're incredibly fragile and die without being attached to those branches you see Fuzzy here holding onto," the man explained.

"Who are you, exactly? All we know is that there are some that call you 'Death's Hand'," Sabine asked.

The man only laughed at that. "THAT'S what they're calling me?" he continued to laugh. "I'm sorry, but it's been a long time since I've heard a good joke like that." He wiped a tear from his eye, "I've heard some Imperial agents call me the Illusive Man because they can never find me. I've gone by many names and have had many titles over the years, some I've liked and others I've despised. But for the sake of simplicity, you can just call me Harry."

Before anyone could ask or say anything further a man dressed like the others ran in and shouted, "Sir! Imperial transport inbound!"

"Merlin damn it!" he cursed. He turned to his men, "Lock and load, time to kill us some Imps!" To which he got cheers from the troops.

"What about us?" Sabine asked.

"Yeah," Ezra chimed in, "we can help."

Harry looked at the dark skinned man behind him, "Sarge?"

"Don't look at me, boss," 'Sarge' shrugged, "they seem alright to me."

He turned to the _Ghost_ crew once more, "Can you shoot?"

"'Can I shoot?' I'm a Mandalorian, what do you think?" Sabine replied feeling slightly offended.

"We all can," Hera answered for both Ezra and Kanan.

Harry only raised an eyebrow towards them but nodded towards Sarge who cut the ties that held them to the chairs. "Get them a weapon and get into ambush positions and wait for the signal," Harry ordered before walking off.

"This way, we got your stuff stashed over here," Sarge said leading them away.

Ten minutes later every member of the Immortals and the _Ghost_ crew hid behind several ambush points both on the ground and on the rooftops of the nearby warehouses. Down below in the center of what was an open area that would be used by light freighters to load and unload cargo stood Harry smoking another stick.

Ezra stood next to Sarge who was aiming a very large rifle down at the area their boss was standing in. "So why is he down there by himself?" Ezra asked.

"He's the bait," Sarge replied.

"Bait?" Kanan asked.

"This isn't the first time we've done this routine," he replied as if it were as clear as day. It would certainly explain why everyone seemed beyond calm. There was rumbling as they heard the Imperial shuttle come in for a landing on the edge of the open area. "Showtime," Sarge said as he charged his rifle.

Down with Harry, he stood relaxed has he puffed his cigarette, one of the last that he had from Earth. He had used the _Gemino_ spell on the pack he originally brought with them from Earth a few years ago to create a personal supply, but you could only multiply something so many times before it was obsolete to the original item. The _Lambda_ -class shuttle landed on the edge of the platform and the boarding ramp lowered with a hiss. Before the ramp even finished extending Stormtroopers stormed down and formed a half-moon formation around Harry with their weapons raised at him. However, for whatever reason, they didn't open fire. An Imperial officer walked up behind them and shouted, "Why are you not opening fire?!" For the Stormtroopers, however, for whatever reason, they just couldn't pull the trigger on the man, no matter how much they wanted to. "Enough with this!" the officer shouted as he too pulled out his blaster pistol but found himself in the same position where he couldn't pull the trigger. "What in the Force is going on?!"

Harry let the cigarette fall out of his mouth and ground it into the pavement with his boot. The air then grew cold, ice cold, however, any checking of temperature gauges listed the temperature as normal. Harry then said in just a whisper, but somehow echoed all around, "O mors, exaudi orationem meam. Dona mihi animam meam, ut rursus in potestate hostibus.*"

The Stormtroopers would have missed it if they blinked, but for a moment a young human woman appeared wearing a little black, yet conservative dress and no shoes. Her skin was a shade of porcelain that looked like she had never seen sunlight. Her hair was as black as the center of a black hole. Her eyes were the most unsettling of all, the irises were blood red and glowed. The words she spoke made their blood run cold, "As you wish, my beloved master."

It wasn't the words themselves. But it was the way it was said. Though it was said next to Harry's ear, everyone heard it as if a lover was whispering a secret into their ear. But it wasn't just that, but every person that heard the words heard it in the native tongues of their homeworlds. Hera heard it Ryl, Kanan and Ezra heard it in Basic, a Corellian Stormtrooper heard it echo in both Old Corellian and Basic, and the soldiers in the Immortals heard it in their native tongues. Then, as if she were an apparition, she disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"What are you waiting for?! Shoot him!" the officer shouted.

The Stormtroopers immediately gained their composure and fired a few rounds at Harry, but to their shock, he was gone. Ezra got ready to fire his blaster but Sarge stopped him saying, "That wasn't the signal."

"Then what is?" Ezra whispered in frustration back.

The Stormtroopers looked around in confusion, swinging their blasters around in arcs that followed their eyesight. "Where is he?" one asked.

They then heard the sound of what could only be described as the sound of flesh being cut by something metal. There was a cough near the back and the sound of blood splattering on pavement. Immediately the Stormtroopers turned around and saw that one of their comrades was stabbed through the chest with a large, curved piece of metal. Around the wound, blood leaked out but the blade seemed to absorb the Stormtrooper's blood like some sort of siphon. The Stormtroopers were shocked as this bladed weapon managed to pierce the Katarn armor all without a hypersonic generator, as that left telltale melted edges of whatever material it was being forced through that any vibro weapon caused. The weapon was then yanked out and the Stormtrooper stood there looking down at the gaping hole in his chest that was bleeding profusely if one were to remove his helmet they'd see his eyes roll back into the back of his head as he collapsed lifelessly.

Their eyes watched their dead comrade drop to the ground then they looked up to see the man they saw before holding a scythe whose shaft was as black as night and was topped where the blade met shaft was a human skull with the blade of the scythe coming out of the mouth of the skull. The man's expression was apathetic if not downright expressionless. His emerald eyes glowed with power unseen by anyone of this era of the Empire. For the first time in their lives these Stormtroopers and officer felt something they had never felt before: fear and weakness, the complete opposite of what the Empire was supposed to represent.

"THAT's the signal," Sarge said right before taking the first shot. The large rifle cracked as the hypervelocity round exited the muzzle and slammed into the helmet of a Stormtrooper causing it to shatter at the point of impact, the round then entered the trooper's skull killing him with brutal efficiency. The rest of the Immortals opened fire with their weapons with the same kind of efficiency; some with high-powered long-range weapons, and others with rapid fire multi-barreled weapons. After taking a moment to try and stomach what they just saw, they too opened fire with their blasters.

While Harry dodged both bullet and blaster bolts that came from both enemy and ally alike like some kind of twisted ballet, Stormtrooper after Stormtrooper fell to his blade. He had literally disarmed a Stormtrooper before ending his existence before turning his attention to the Imperial officer who shot just as wildly as those under his command who were being thinned out one after the other. The officer raised his pistol to take a shot at Harry, but the blaster was shot by Sarge. The hypervelocity round impacted right in front of the officer's hand, the force of which caused it to fly away with sparks. The officer watched as his pistol landed in a broken heap.

He started to walk backwards but tripped over his own feet and fell on his ass. He started to crawl backwards in fear as Harry kept walking closer and closer to him, the edge of the scythe scraping against the permacrete that sounded like the screeching of some kind of territorial beast bearing down upon him for trespassing. "No! Please!" the officer pleaded as he backed into a supply crate that had been left out on the landing platform.

Harry raised the scythe so that the blade's throat was just micrometers away from piercing the Imperial officer's carotid artery. The officer could feel just how unnaturally cold the blade really was. "Who told you where to find us?" Harry asked coldly.

The Imperial looked to Harry, then to the last of his Stormtroopers being killed in a hail of gunfire, then back to Harry. His eyes widened as it seemed as though the shadows were growing all around him. He stuttered out, "Imperial Intelligence just ordered me here!"

"Then you are of no use to me," Harry replied coldly.

The officer could feel the tip of the scythe pierce his skin and blood started to trickle out. "Wait!" he shouted. Harry paused for his response. "I heard something, it was from one of the Admirals that was instructed by some other higher up, that's all I know!"

Harry let his life hang in the balance, he didn't need to look down to see the small puddle of urine leaking from his standard issue pants as the smell pointed that out quite easily. He then quickly removed the scythe from the officer and turned his back to the Imperial. His hand flew to his throat to stifle the bleeding and started to thank him for sparing him, but Harry whipped around with a heavy, blocky pistol and fired three shots in rapid succession. Two landed in the man's chest near his heart and the third in the center of his forehead. The Imperial slumped to the ground like a puppet cut from its strings. He holstered the pistol in his shoulder holster and dropped the scythe. Before it hit the ground it dissolved into shadows, like it was never even there to begin with.

Seeing that the entire Stormtrooper 'army' that the Imperial officer brought with him were all dead he announced to his own army, "Alright, listen up! Strip them of any intact armor and weapons, toss the bodies, pack up and get ready to bug out. They know we're here now, let's not overstay our welcome." He then turned to the _Ghost_ crew who had come down from the rooftops and were wincing at the carnage that Harry and his Immortals had caused. "I believe you wanted to discuss our… assistance in your rebellion?"

Hera had a feeling that this would somehow bite her in the ass somehow.

XxXxXxX

 _Inquisitor High Command. Hours later._

Darth Vader looked at the holoprojector as he and a select few others watched the footage that one of the few Stormtrooper helmets managed to record before its owner's death. They too, like the ones that originally heard it, felt unnerved by both the unknown language that had no base in any recorded language in Imperial records. Then came the girl who appeared and disappeared. Those in attendance also heard the same words in their native tongues. Vader, also known to few in another life as Anakin Skywalker, heard the girl's words in Huttese, the language that he had been forced to speak while a slave.

"And this is the only footage?" Vader asked in his deep baritone voice that sent shivers down all but a few's spines.

"It is, my lord," an Imperial officer with a high ranking reported. "It was the only one not wiped as it fell to the streets below."

"And the language?"

"It's not in any Imperial databanks."

A voice then said, "If I may, Lord Vader, I don't know the specifics, but I do know what the effect the words have." A young woman clad in the uniform of an Inquisitor walked forward out of the shadows. She was one of the few human Inquisitors.

"And you know this how, Ninth Sister?" Vader asked.

She walked closer to the holotank allowing her features to become more clear in the light of the blue hologram. "The words he speaks are that of legend amongst my people, or what little I can remember of it. They allow for the summoning of Death itself."

"And you would know this how?"

"Because that man is my biological father," she replied as she leaned in. Her fire-red hair, while cropped short, was a stark contrast to her uniform. Her eyes, once as green as her father's, were now a sickly sulfur yellow color. "And I will deal with him myself."

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, another pilot done.**

 **Now, what am I looking to get out of this one? Well, it would be mostly self-contained stories set in the canon in the Rebels series timeline during season 2 and onwards towards Episode IV, maybe into the rest of the Original Trilogy. To that extent, I have no idea as of yet. Some of the things setting this back is that I don't want this to be a piggy-back fic where a new character just is along for the ride where the story is mostly the same except for a few small things. I want this to be its own thing inside Rebels itself. However, in order to do that this would require a lot of planning and character fleshing out in order to create characters other than just Harry, Sarge, and Harry's daughter. Sure, there will be contact with the** _ **Ghost**_ **crew, but it won't take the spotlight of the story, or at least that is the idea on this entirely.**

 **So I'll address this now. Guns? With bullets easily killing Stormtroopers? What kinda hash you smokin' mate? I can guess you're asking. Now I might be pulling a bit of a deus ex here but that was something I was hoping to expand on more in the main story, should I make it. Think about it in terms of the weaponry from** _ **Mass Effect**_ **where we pretty much have handheld railguns in that universe. Now, we know that Stormtrooper armor is quite resilient, but it isn't that great at physical impact but is great against particle weaponry, allowing people shot with blasters to walk away mostly alive; which honestly I think is a copout to make the Rebels look less like villains, but that's my personal interpretation on that. My thought was that a piece of metal, or a bullet, accelerated fast enough through means like railguns and maybe magic would be able to shatter Stormtrooper armor making it virtually useless against weapons like the ones that Harry and his crew were using.**

 **Pairing for this? I don't know at this point. It is pretty well accepted that Hera and Kanan kinda have a thing going on, but that isn't canon yet so I'm not going to jump on that at all. As for other characters? I have no idea as I haven't even planned that far ahead yet.**

 **One question that I bet you're asking is "why does Harry look young?" Master of Death reasons, that's why. I think that should explain that away quite easily. Yay for tropes!**

 **Also, I only have one specific note this time around:  
*From Google Translate: "O Death, hear my plea. Grant me the power to strike down my enemies."**

 **But that's all I have for now and remember: just because it looks like I'm not updating my other stuff, doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about it.**

 **Also, if you guys are liking what you're reading from these snippets, if you've favorited this repository don't forget to follow as you won't get updates if you don't follow this story. Just a little friendly reminder from your's truly and the Bureu for Remembering Things (trademark pending).**

 **Until next time guys.**


	25. A SW x Vandread pilot

**Alright, so this is a bit of a weird one. I wouldn't blame you if you waited for the next pilot/one-shot. You still here? Damn, you must be as crazy as me. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. We'll let whatever higher power there is judge that *laughs*.**

 **I guess I've stalled long enough, "what is the new story?" I know you're asking. Well, this one comes from an idea that another fic here on the site brought up. Now, this particular fic is called "A New Frontier" by Rogue Pizza (** id: 11452496 **) which is a** _ **Vandread**_ **/** _ **Titanfall**_ **crossover fic which I do recommend reading as it is quite interesting and it hasn't hit 100 followers yet so go on over and hit it up and give it some love. Now before you ask, no this will not be a crossover of the same properties as you can probably tell from the chapter header. No, this will be a** _ **Vandread**_ **/** _ **Star**_ _ **Wars**_ **crossover.**

 **So how will I do this? I was doing a lot of thinking on this last night after I read the most recent chapter of that story and ideas ranged from a Rebellion/New Republic scout ship to an Imperial/Imperial Remnant scout ship both of which lost in space. Then I doubled back since I've done a few of these in the past in this repository alone. So I started thinking of other methods/ways I could make this work. And then I had an idea: why not make the characters from Star Wars all OCs and have them part of a smuggling crew inspired from** _ **Star Wars: The Old Republic**_ **but set in the time of the Rebellion? I personally thought that sounded a lot better than rehashing old characters I love in a bizarre adventure from an anime that I did find to be quite entertaining.**

 **Rating: T+ - M for some ecchi scenes and possibly an eventual smut/lemon scene (but not in this pilot; if anything it might be towards the end of the story), violence, suggestive language (innuendos, etc.), and explicit language.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney and** _ **Vandread**_ **belongs to Takashi Mori and Gonzo/Funimation. I only own OCs that originate from me. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

" **Radio communication."**

XxXxXxX

The _Intrepid Condor_ floated through space near the Maw Cluster, a series of black holes in a small space that would be considered unnatural that was also known commonly as The Maw. Everyone who ventured close enough always felt a chill run down their spines that made them want to get the hell out of there. But for smuggler Gavin Draydock, it was part of a dangerous stretch of space for smugglers known as the Kessel Run. In fact, there was a competition with smugglers to see how fast they could complete it. As odd as it sounded, the speed was recorded in distance because of the proximity to the black holes of the Maw distorted chronos making them unreliable, unlike distance which while distorted was still reliable. The current record is still held by smuggler employed by Jabba the Hutt, Han Solo with a total of just under 12 parsecs. Gavin really wanted to break that record that Han set well over a few years ago.

The _Intrepid Condor_ is a YT-1300 light freighter, one of the Corellian Engineering Corporation's most successful designs that has a massive following and popularity due to its durability and customizability. Gavin's freighter was like many others of the series that existed out in the galaxy, but it also had many customized and borderline illegal modifications that many smugglers and bounty hunters made to their craft to give them an upper hand in different scenarios. For example, on the _Condor_ it had upgraded sublight engines that gave it more maneuverability and base speed. He had just upgraded the main hyperdrive with a Class 0.6 generator that he found in a junkyard on Tatooine that took months and several months of trial and error to get it to work as he wanted it to. He, with help, even managed to figure out a way how to link the primary and emergency hyperdrives to perform a 'bug out' jump in the case of an extreme situation which would push the Class 0.6 to a Class 0.4 temporarily for one jump, but it had the likelihood that it would burn out either of the hyperdrives or both; so use was only recommended in a life or death situation.

One of the other things that he did was upgrade the blaster cannons so that they could hit harder against pirates that would target ships like his. The shields were also upgraded to the point where it could be considered to be the same strength of a frigate's shields; so it could take a beating as well as dish out one as well. The proton torpedo launchers had an expanded magazine, but he rarely had to fire a shot as the heavy anti-ship weapons were expensive and watched carefully by the Empire. If you weren't an Imperial or an Imperial contractor (see: bounty hunter on their dole) you were investigated.

The freighter shook as a blast barely missed the smaller ship's hull.

It was all supposed to be an easy transportation mission. Get some guns, take them to the other side, profit. But SOMEONE had to go and narc on them.

Another blast shook the freighter.

"Someone get on those guns!" Gavin shouted as he dodged another blast narrowly. "Those TIES will tear us to shreds if you can't get them off our back!"

"On it, Captain!" the voice of female Mandalorian Marlil Stocoff said as she left her co-pilot's chair. As she passed him she said, "Crazy Corellians."

"Nines, I want you on whatever gun port she doesn't take!" he shouted to a repaired CIS Commando droid.

It replied in a much deeper, "Roger, roger." It also left the cockpit.

Alarms blared throughout the cockpit as the gauge that detailed the status of the deflector shield depleted rapidly. He started hearing fire coming from his own ship, knowing that at least they were fighting the TIEs off.

" **Gavin, we've got a destroyer coming quick up our ass!"** Marlil said over comms.

Gavin looked out the cockpit and saw the Maw and had an insane idea. "Hold on to something and keep those TIEs off my back! I'm about to do something stupid!"

" **What are you… you're not thinking of… you're insane!"**

"That'd be just as crazy to follow us." Gavin maneuvered the freighter to head towards the closest he could get to the accretion disk of the closest black hole. The fighter followed, but even they knew what Gavin was going to do was borderline suicide. It didn't take long before the freighter reached the safest point where he could still easily maneuver out of the mass shadow well before it became impossible to escape.

" **Master, they're still behind us, roger, roger,"** Nines stated.

"I'm working on it!" Gavin shouted back as he ran computations on the console next to him while flying in the turbulence that the gravity well created. He accelerated into the well and allowed it to swing the ship around. Once he passed the half-way point he pushed the sublight engines past their recommended specifications and accelerated out of the black hole's gravity well at absurd speeds that no ship should be able to without a hyperdrive. The Condit sped past the Star Destroyer that had stopped well outside the black hole's gravity well. Gavin then did something even more insane: he jumped blindly into hyperspace.

The blue tunneled dimension that was hyperspace managed to finally calm Gavin's frayed nerves. There weren't many thoughts in his head as he was to just be grateful that his gambit worked and that he was alive. He even started softly laughing like a maniac, which is what Marlil and Nines walked in on. "And so the Corellian has finally lost it," she remarked. "Then again, you would have to in order to think that slingshotting around a black hole was a good idea. Where are we heading anyway?" she asked as she took her seat in the co-pilot's chair.

"No idea," he bluntly replied as he watched the instruments.

"You made a blind jump?!"

"I made sure to set the safeties back on the hyperdrive and we'll be pulled out of we get too close to a gravity well. Ideally, we'll drop out in less than an hour to assess damages internally and externally. Then if everything's golden we'll make a precision jump and make the delivery." An alarm started to blare on the command console and the _Condor_ immediately dropped out of hyperspace. "Ok, that was a little bit too early," he muttered.

"Well you did make a blind jump and based on your slingshot U-turn maneuver we could be back at…" she trailed off as she looked out of the viewport, "that's not Kessel."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. I would have never guessed that," Gavin snarked. "Nines, run local star charts against our maps and see if you can get some coordinates for us."

"Roger, roger," the droid replied as it started to work at the navigator's console behind him.

As Gavin watched the short range sensors for debris, asteroids, or even fighters lurking about he looked out of the forward viewport to see a fairly large gas giant with rings. It was beautiful even if he had seen numerous gas giants before. It was always how the gasses swirled in the atmosphere that was just stunning. No matter how much you traveled the stars and while seeing distant stars for boring, seeing a planet from orbit was always a visual treat.

"Master, the star arrangement does not match any known systems on record," Nines reported.

"How, we haven't been in hyperspace for more than five to ten minutes?" Marlil asked.

"Nines, how far have we traveled?" Gavin asked his droid.

There was a pause before it responded, "Unknown. Searching for any stars charted. Hypothetically, we would have traveled no more than a few hundred light-years at the most."

"Ok then, create a max radius around our point of departure." A ring appeared on the map on the console. "Looks like we're not that far out from Norval if these charts are correct. While I would rather be near Corellia or Mandalore, as impossible as it would be based on our location, where we have friends, Norval will have to do for refueling." He stood up and said, "We'll do an assessment on the _Condor_ before taking off and repair anything that isn't the way it should be. Nines, you're going for a spacewalk to search for microfractures or other substantial damage that needs to be immediately repaired." The commando droid nodded in acknowledgment. "Mar, I want you to team up with Nines internally to seal any fractures as well as checking the cargo holds to make sure our inventory hasn't shifted too much. As for me, I'll check on the hyperdrive and sublight engines. Let's get this done quickly so we can get out of unknown territory."

Later, down in the engineering bay, Gavin held a datapad as it wirelessly connected to his hyperdrive to give him schematic and data readouts on it. Gavin was shocked to see that his precious Class 0.6 had almost burned out entirely, which should have been impossible based on their time in hyperspace. 'Is it possible we went further than expected?' he thought. 'But how?'

His comlink earpiece then chimed. **"Master, there are no fractures in the hull. There are a few scorches from TIE blaster fire, but no breaches,"** Nines reported.

"Alright, come back inside. Mar?"

" **Everything's still tied down where it was when we left. Need a hand in engineering?"** she asked.

"No, but I'm confused on something, the main hyperdrive was to the point of burning out."

" **That should be impossible."**

" **Indeed, we should have only traveled a few hundred light-years,"** Nines added.

"That's what I was saying too," Gavin sighed. "At least we still have the Class 3.0 backup generator. It'll be slower but at least we aren't stranded."

" **Master, there appears to be something strange on sensors,"** Nines reported. **"It's heading right for us."**

"Is it on a collision course?"

" **Negative. It appears to be slowing down… detecting scanning pulse from the object."** There was a pause before Nines reported, **"Master, I can confirm that the object is a ship."**

"Hopefully they're friendly," Gavin muttered.

" **Unknown,"** Nines replied to the muttered statement. **"The vessel does not match any known ship classification in my databanks. Although, it does appear to be similar in the shape of which Mon Calamari vessels take with their aesthetic."**

"I'm away from the cockpit, send the standard Spacer greeting," Gavin ordered as he pulled himself out of the subdeck that the components of the hyperdrive were attached to.

" **Roger, roger."**

The standard Spacer greeting was a transmission protocol stemming from back when humanity and other races first began spacefaring with both colony generation ships and later sleeper ships, but continued on well after the discovery and implementation of hyperdrive technology. The message would greet the other vessel and assure them that they were not pirates and would not attack so long as they were not attacked first. Another part of Spacer etiquette was to offer assistance when asked. After all, in the emptiness of space, you only have yourselves and common courtesy when you get in trouble. You help others and they help you in return, or at least that's how it was supposed to work; many times in the past pirates abused this etiquette for their own gain by booby-trapping ships with a distress call and would strike when another kind crew came by it.

" **Master, they have not transmitted an IFF signal yet,"** Nines reported.

Gavin walked towards the cockpit with increased haste. Whenever a ship hasn't broadcasted a signal when it was the courtesy to do so that usually meant pirates. "Nines, get back inside; Mar, meet me in the cockpit. I've got a bad feeling about this."

Gavin walked into the cockpit and sat down in the pilot's seat. He looked out of the viewport to see what looked like a giant, black mollusk; that, or an aquatic mammal of some kind. Gavin looked at the long range sensors and saw that it had no visible viewports for a pilot or command crew to visually look out of.

"That's one weird ship," observed Marlil as she walked into the cockpit.

"Agreed," said Gavin. "Nines, status?"

"I am here, master," the droid replied as it too entered the cockpit.

"Great, the gang's all here. Still no response from the vessel?"

"None," Marlil reported as she watched the comms.

"What in the Nine Hells-?" Gavin trailed. The strange ship's entire fore section opened up like a pair of lips and 'spat' out a cube on which lines glowed on it like an old school circuit board. The cube traveled a good few hundred meters from the craft before the cube broke apart to reveal large headed, bipedal droids with spindly arms that resembled tentacles. They seemed to activate moments later before they started rapidly accelerating towards the _Condor_. "Ok, friendly spacers don't launch droids. Time to go."

Gavin immediately activated the deflector and ray shields right as the first set of energy blasts came from the droids. The blasts were low leveled and splashed harmlessly over the _Condor_. Gavin started up the sublight engine sequence and both Marlil and Nines didn't need to be told to head towards the gunwales to lay down suppressing fire. Soon enough Gavin could hear the humming of the sublight engines as more energy blasts splashed against the shields with a much lower yield that TIE fighters used. He immediately gunned it as while a single laser was below the yield of a blaster cannon, many would wear down the shields if they swarmed him. The gun turrets of the _Condor_ shot back and managed to destroy quite a few of the droids, but more kept coming. No matter how many the crew managed to shoot down, the larger Mon Cala style ship just sent out more droids to collect the remains before it pumped out another droid cube to chase after them.

Gavin had to think quickly. This ship could keep coming after them as many times as it liked until it wore down their power and fuel to the point where they would be sitting ducks ready for an opportunistic hunter. He looked down at the map that the navicomputer was giving him and noted that in order to make the jump to Norval he needed to be on the other side of the gas giant's gravity well. He would need to keep the enemy's fire off of him and his eye trailed off to the side to see the ring around the gas giant.

"Nines, I'm going to need you to pull double duty," Gavin ordered as he maneuvered towards the rings.

" **Master, you aren't seriously thinking what you think you're thinking?"** Nines asked.

Gavin didn't answer but increased the power to the sublight engines. Soon enough the first of the rocks and ice that make up the rings sped past him. First, they started as smaller rocks, but sooner became larger rocks appeared at the size of snubfighters. While the droids were quite maneuverable they could not dodge the rocks entirely and some couldn't maneuver out of the way and crashed into the rocks, detonating from the impact. Gavin used his years of piloting experience to dodge rocks that would easily squash his freighter when they drifted together like a bug. Despite what the droids had in maneuverability, they could not process all the random vectors that the chunks and ice took as they were not predictable and needed split-second decisions that only organic beings could do on the fly. You could program as many algorithms as possible into a droid body, but they could be susceptible to errors and paradoxes which could easily cause the droid to be destroyed.

Soon enough the bulbous manufacturing ship started ignoring picking up the pieces and started to chase after the _Condor_ itself through the debris field. The ship's 'mouth' parted and shot out some kind of zig-zagging heated beam that fractured or destroyed rocks in front of it. Gavin started to fly closer to larger rocks to use them as natural barriers as the bulbous ship kept firing whatever its weapons were and kept missing as rocks flew into its sights, blocking it from firing on the _Condor_. The _Condor_ 's guns fired back causing the bulbous ship to be careful in its positioning. Close to an hour later, a long agonizing hour of dodging rocks and ice as well as an unknown enemy weapon, the _Condor_ emerged from the gas giant's rings and all power was put to the sublight engines to escape the gravity well.

The other ship picked up on this and fired once more when Gavin started to program the coordinates into the navicomputer for the Norval system. The ship shook as it was hit by the odd weapon. The _Condor_ 's automated systems automatically sealed the section of the ship that had been exposed to vacuum by closing and maglocking the bulkhead. Gavin looked over to see that it was the starboard maintenance bay which housed the shield generator for the entire starboard side and the generator's power converter. Luckily, whatever weapon they were using didn't damage either piece of equipment even though they were currently overloaded by the strike. He saw in aft cameras that the craft was about to strike again. As soon as he saw the coordinates for the jump were calculated, he immediately threw the lever for the hyperdrive. The _Condor_ leaped into hyperspace leaving the unknown craft alone in the vastness of space.

Meanwhile back on the _Condor_ Gavin breathed a sigh of relief. He took a moment to look out the viewport to relax for a short time, allowing the adrenaline to wear off so he could thoroughly process what he needed his crew to do. Marlil walked into the cockpit and Gavin asked, "You guys alright?"

"A little banged up, but no worse for wear. Did you see what the giant clam did to the starboard-?" she asked.

"I saw. Luckily the system already sealed off the hold and we don't have any other breaches. We'll have to land to repair it, though," Gavin sighed. "Let's hope that we find safe harbor on Norval. Try and get some rest, we'll have a few hours before we drop out of hyperspace."

XxXxXxX

 _Hours later. Intrepid Condor. Near "Norval III"._

The _Intrepid Condor_ dropped out of hyperspace right in the orbit of Norval III, but something was wrong about it. Well, two things. The first was Gavin immediately needing to dodge a large piece of debris that scratched the ventral hull of his beloved ship (see: home). He realized that Norval III was red when it wasn't supposed to be. Not only that, but the entire planet was ringed with a debris field that you might find over a war-torn world or a planet in the Outer Rim that was constantly plagued with pirates.

"This isn't right," Marlil observed as her eyes drifted over the scene in front of her. "Are you sure you put in the right coordinates?"

"No, I put in the coordinates for Geonosis," Gavin sarcastically replied. "Of course I put the right ones in." He maneuvered through more remnants of what looked like warships and asked, "Anything from the local holonet?"

Marlil looked over the screens next to her and replied, "Nothing. There isn't a holonet buoy to connect to."

"I don't like this," Gavin muttered, to which Marlil agreed.

"Master," Nines spoke up, "there's a transmission coming from the surface. It's an audio-visual transmission, but the debris is scrambling the visual portion of it."

"Open a channel," Gavin ordered. "Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Captain Gavin Draydock of the independent freighter _Intrepid Condor_. My crew and I require immediate clearance for landing at the nearest spaceport for repairs." Gavin then released the transmit button.

" _ **Intrepid Condor**_ **, you have entered Tarak Imperial territory, state your intentions or you will be fired upon,"** a male voice replied from the transmitter.

"Great another empire," Gavin muttered before pressing the button once more. "My crew and I were attacked by a group of unknowns that damaged our freighter. We require clearance to land to perform repairs and refuel." Gavin maneuvered his ship out of the debris field, as he did he could feel eyes upon him both behind his freighter and in front of him as he saw several large capital ships. They weren't as large as _Victory II_ -class Star Destroyers, but they were certainly large and had very big guns pointed at them. But so far they haven't fired, so at least that was a good sign.

" **Those accursed women strike again and try to kill another man just trying to live his life."**

That set off alarm bells in Gavin's mind. "Mar, you heard that, right?"

"I did," she uneasily replied.

"Put your helmet on," he carefully said right as the comms lit up again.

" **Activate your video feed to confirm that you are a man,"** the man ordered.

"One moment, I need to reroute power from other systems to boost the transmitter," Gavin replied over the comms. Gavin watched as Marlil put her Mando helmet on and gave him a thumbs up. "Opening a visual channel now."

A grizzled man appeared on the holotank which was turned to look at Gavin particularly. **"Ah, it's good to see another man's face that survived the female horde,"** he said. Behind her helmet, Marlil raised an eyebrow and Gavin thought it was a weird phrasing of words. But the man continued, **"How many are on board with you?"**

"Just me, my first mate, and my droid."

" **Droid?"**

Gavin immediately pinged that as odd. Everyone knew what a droid was. "Automaton, robot, et cetera. Same principle, different name."

" **Ah,"** the man sighed in understanding. **"Seeing as none of you are women,"** Gavin looked over to Marlil seeing that her armor made her look more like a man without close-up scrutiny, **"you are being sent coordinates for a landing zone. Do not deviate course."**

A text transmission appeared on his console containing coordinates and laid it out on the hologram of the planet. "Adjusting course now. See you on the ground, control. Out." Gavin then closed the channel. "I don't like this," he admitted to his crew. "Fighting against women? What kind of planet did we come across?"

"That's what I should be asking you," Marlil replied as she removed her helmet and set it on her lap. "This is excessively odd, though. Human men and women fighting against each other? The closest thing I've heard of that sounds like this is are the Witches on Dathomir."

"We should be very careful, master," Nines suggested.

"Agreed," Gavin replied as the _Condor_ breached the atmosphere and started descending towards the set of coordinates that he was given. A few minutes later the _Condor_ extended its landing struts and landed with some swirls of red dirt that the repulsors kicked up. He stood up and walked towards the boarding ramp. "Here's what we're going to do. Mar, you stay in the cockpit with your helmet on to dissuade suspicion and be ready to bug out if something happens." She nodded. "Nines, you're with me. Keep your blaster rifle ready to fire, but only engage them if they fire first at us."

"Roger, roger," Nines replied with a nod of its head.

Gavin reached down to his holster and unsnapped the leather strap that kept his DL-44 blaster pistol from slipping out and turned off the safety. Nines held an EE-3 carbine that he held at rest and pointed it towards the ground. "Time to face the locals," Gavin muttered as he pressed the button on the console that released the maglocks on the bulkhead door.

He walked out onto the surface of the planet, making sure to watch his head as the ramp was just finishing lowering. He walked a dozen meters from the Corellian freighter as he spotted armed men in uniforms that reminded him of Imperial officers but were a lot more colorful (which was an understatement as they wore khaki and red uniforms. They seemed to be carrying slugthrowers of some kind and held them in the same way that Nines currently held his blaster rifle. The leather duster that Gavin wore blew in the breeze revealing his pistol, but as his hands weren't currently grasping it, the soldiers apparently let it slide.

The leader wore a green uniform that looked a lot like the ones that the soldiers wore, the color more than likely denoted rank of some kind. "Captain Draydock?" he asked.

"I'm he," Gavin replied.

He looked around but didn't see the third person. "Where's your first mate?"

"Finishing shutdown procedures," Gavin lied expertly. "My ship has very… particular sequences that need to be performed for shutdown. I left it to them to perform it as they've done it many times before."

The man walked closer to the ship and examined it closely. "This is a fascinating ship; I've never seen anything like it."

"She's a Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 class light freighter. She's one of the fastest ships of her class. I only know of one other ship that's faster, and that belongs to the pilot Han Solo. Hell, he still has the record for the Kessel Run, despite my trying to break said record."

"Hmm… fascinating," the man trailed before catching himself. "Wait… did you say 'she'? As in 'women' 'she'?"

"Why wouldn't I? It's my galactic tradition to call your ship 'she'. Some kind of ancient superstition that we still abide by today for good luck or something," he shrugged.

"But women are the enemy!" the officer shouted.

Gavin briefly caught his droid twitching slightly, as if acquiring targets. "Your enemy isn't my enemy until they fire at me first. I'm an independent contractor who ships things, and to me, all credits are good credits. We'll have to agree to disagree here."

"It won't matter for long," the man spat.

"Oh?"

"Soon we, Men of Tarak, will launch our secret weapon to finally deal with the Woman menace!" the officer replied with fervor.

"And how will you do that?" Gavin prodded, appealing to the man's sense of patriotism.

"With the Ikazuchi, of course! It will smite the world of women from the face of the galaxy. And with your exotic ship, we could further our victory!"

"Yeah… no," Gavin replied dismissively.

"But… why would you not side with your fellow man?" the man asked in confused anger.

"I'm Corellian, not… whatever you call yourselves. I want no part in your little skirmish."

He then took a step forward, "Then we'll take your ship and press it into service."

Gavin showed borderline no emotion and cocked his head slightly to the side as his right hand settled next to his DL-44. "Oh, you should not have done that." He then quick-drew his pistol and shot three of the six soldiers within a blink of an eye. Nines finished the other three off with similar accuracy. The blaster bolts exploded in the chests of these Tarak Empire soldiers, killing them instantly. Immediately the rest of the landing pad started to scramble away and call reinforcements. Gavin tapped his comlink attached to his ear and said, "Mar, time to go."

" **But we didn't get any fuel or supplies! What did you do?"** she asked angrily.

Both Nines and Gavin ran towards the boarding ramp with their weapons in hand. "Oh, you know. I met the locals. They tried to press us into service to fight their little war for them."

" **And the reason that we now have to leave quickly?"** she asked as Gavin could hear the sublight engines start to warm up.

"I might have shot the dock officer and his soldier escort when he threatened to steal the ship," Gavin admitted sheepishly.

" **When will you stop shooting people that threaten to steal your ship?"**

"In all fairness, two are completely justified," Gavin replied as a squad of soldiers tried to rush the ship bearing slugthrowers. He fired three shots, two of which missed two barely, but the third found a new home in a soldier's head. "Those thieves on Nar Shadaa and the scavengers on Tatooine had it coming."

" **While that may be true, did you have to shoot them BEFORE we got the supplies we needed?"**

The soldiers started firing on them, however, because they were flustered their aim was all over the place. Both weapon wielding 'spacemen' fired back with their blasters. The durasteel hull of the freighter protected them from the bullets as they hid behind the boarding ramp for cover. "Oh, you know me. No one tries to steal my ship."

Further blaster and gunfire were exchanged. Blaster fire scorched the earth and burned into bodies while gunfire pinged off of the tough alloy of the _Condor_. Due to the precision fire of both Gavin and Nines, none of these Tarak humans got close to the ship but were forced to either take cover or die.

" **We're good to go, get your shebs in here,"** Marlil said over comms.

The freighter started levitating off the ground and the landing struts retreated into the hull of the freighter. All that remained down was the boarding ramp. Without a word said between them, Corellian and droid emerged from their cover and sprayed the cover that the soldiers were hiding behind, causing them to duck further behind their cover lest they gain a new smoking hole that they might not survive. The duo then ran inside the freighter as the ramp started to rise. Once sealed the soldiers were thrown away almost comically as the sublight engines accelerated the ship away from the planet at speeds the Tarakians thought impossible. Meanwhile, in the main city of the planet a large capital class ship took off to a standing ovation and chants from the crowd.

The _Condor_ breached the veil that separated space from atmosphere and sped immediately towards the debris field. Gavin sat at the controls of the co-pilot as Marlil had already been at the helm. He immediately switched the shield type to deflector, transferring all power from the ray shields to it.

"Why?" Marlil asked.

"They have slugthrowers. It's safe to say that their ships have them equipped too," Gavin replied as he finished the recalibration.

As soon as he finished it they started feeling physical impacts coming from the ships firing on them. Due to the low yields that even asteroids had the shields were draining excessively slowly. "At least one thing is going right for us," Marlil muttered.

A holographic map appeared before Gavin that had several large red dots that represented the now hostile ships that were firing upon them. More dots appeared ahead on sensors, although they were slightly scrambled. "Stang," Gavin said at that revelation. However, instead of attacking them the dots flew past them and started attacking the Tarak cruisers. "Well, that was both unexpected and welcome."

"They're not coming after us?" Marlil asked.

Nines appeared to be synced with the ship's network as he replied without looking, "They appear to be attacking the newcomer ship recently launched by the humans we encountered." A few moments later the fire previously coming from the cruisers were directed at the newcomers, giving the _Condor_ a well-deserved reprieve. Less than a minute later, bi-pedal robotic craft started to launch from the human ships and started to engage the fighter craft. The _Condor_ flew right past what looked like the newcomers' flagship or mothership as it started to approach the fray. The Corellian freighter approached a good jumping point as the gravity well had been passed when Gavin ordered something surprising.

"Turn around," he ordered.

This shocked Marlil, "Why? We just got out of three fights today and now you want to go for a round four?"

"We know nothing of the area we're in. What we originally thought was Norval isn't Norval. We've stumbled onto some sort of sexual civil war between men and women and we're now enemies to those Tarak men-."

"No thanks to you," Marlil commented.

"-However, whomever these newcomers are we can cover their asses and befriend them into giving us some star maps and maybe some supplies for helping them out."

"This is a pretty risky move, what you're suggesting."

"My gut tells me that it'll pay off."

The Mandalorian muttered, "You Corellians and your gut feelings." She then maneuvered the ship into a rolling turn that led them back towards the battlefield.

"Nines, you and I are on guns, time to have a little fun."

"Roger, roger," the ex-commando droid replied in a surprising level of glee.

"And don't forget to turn on the sensor jammers!" Gavin shouted as he left the cockpit to the well-trained warrior woman.

Gavin picked up the controls of the dorsal turret and started aiming downrange at the bipedal robots. He waited for his targeting system to get a lock before he fired the first of many laser blasts from his turret. One by one many of the mechs, as Gavin would file the name away for later, flew into their line of fire and would be instantly killed upon impact, as if their armor wasn't rated for the particular composition of the blaster weaponry that the _Condor_ had installed.

A couple of the robots that passed in a blind spot as the _Condor_ flew through them managed to latch onto the hull near the sublight engines. They started to stab the rear of the engines with what appeared to be oversized vibroblades. Alarms began to ring through the freighter as decompression occurred in the engineering segment of the ship; once more the bulkheads closed to protect the rest of the ship's integrity. Turning around, Gavin targeted the two mechs and shot them where the occupants more than likely were. They were both destroyed, but one of them must've hit a major power line as power going to the sublight engines immediately plummeted to nil. All the _Condor_ had were her maneuvering thrusters and repulsors.

" **I've got no thrust,"** Marlil stated the obvious.

"I know, some of those karking mechs managed to latch on and score a few hits. Just keep us close to the ships next to us. We'll maglock the landing struts and hitch a ride out of here," Gavin replied, hoping that these newcomers wouldn't also try to kill them.

Gavin and Nines continued to lay down suppressing fire and after a time the mechs retreated. **"They're retreating,"** Nines reported.

"They have us on the ropes, why run away now?" Gavin asked. Immediately after his question escape pods started to launch from the half of the Tarak ship that now had the newcomer's ship attached to it with an umbilical. "I do not like where this is going. Mar, try to get a hyperspace jump solution. Something's happening."

" **Incoming missiles, and big ones too!"** Marlil reported.

"Arm proton torpedoes and try to get a lock!" Gavin ordered.

Precious seconds passed and Gavin rotated his turret to see the missiles bearing down on them, well, more-so the gunmetal gray ship next to them. It seemed as though the red newcomer ship had the same idea as them as they too started firing what primary weapons they had at the two missiles while they were still at the range where a detonation wouldn't kill them with the blast radius. **"I can't get a lock!"**

"Well, it was a good run, wasn't it, guys?" Gavin asked. Every Corellian part of him wanted to fight until the bitter end, but there was nothing that they could do. They didn't have a jump solution that wouldn't randomly lead to their deaths. The turrets were bunk as the weapons on the red ship were doing nothing to the missiles, meaning they had some form of high, military grade shielding or armor making their much more powerful weapons bunk against it. And now the _Condor_ 's ace in the hole couldn't get a lock. They were dead. They might as well say their goodbyes.

" **It was an honor serving with you, master,"** Nines replied.

" **I can't believe you two, laying down so easily!"** Marlil rebuked them from her comlink.

"Mar, unless we can restore power in the next sixty seconds to the sublight engines, we're doomed. I want to fight, just as much as you, but even I know this is the end of the road," Gavin replied despondently.

" **We can if-!"**

"Mar, it's hard vacuum in there. It was one thing when it was just the starboard side-room where we could vent the engine room to fix it, but both are gone and don't have a way for you to get in there quickly enough as you're the only one right now with space-rated armor. And the escape pods? We won't get out of range fast enough." Gavin laughed as he saw the missiles get even closer. "You know, it's kind of funny. I knew there was a high likelihood of dying at the hands of the Empire, just not one in the boonies of the galaxy. I do have one regret in life." The red ship disengaged the other one and started to futilely fly out of the blast radius.

" **Oh?"**

"I never told you how much I-."

Before Gavin could finish his sentence the two missiles connected with the gunmetal ship, causing everyone's vision to flash white. 'So this is what it's like to die,' Gavin thought. 'It's not that bad, really.' The white flash only lasted a moment, but another later what looked like the blue tunnel of hyperspace was there once more, but only for a moment. 'What the-?' was Gavin's thought as there was immediate deceleration. They were back in realspace with the two other ships and a lot of scrap metal.

"We're alive?" Gavin asked uncertainly. Looking around and pinching himself he felt the little pinch of pain that he expected. "We're alive!" he laughed.

There was an immediate blue glow that emanated from the gray ship and soon spindly arms of what looked like kaibur crystals of old attached themselves to both the front of the _Condor_ and to the other ship as well and started pulling towards each other. **"Gavin, get on up here!"**

"I think I know what you want me for," Gavin replied as he jumped out of his seat and descended the ladder to return to the deck. As he returned to the cockpit he saw the scrap metal that had been brought with them had been flowing towards the gunmetal ship but felt the _Condor_ shake too. "What the-?"

Marlil looked down at the schematic readouts for the _Condor_ and saw that the scrap was not only attaching itself to them but repairing the damage that both those droids had done as well as the damage that the Tarak humans had caused. "Ok, this is a mixed blessing," Marlil remarked.

"Do we have sublight engines back online?" Gavin asked.

Nines reported, "No, we have some power to weapons and the hyperdrive, but sublight engines are completely down."

"Weren't they at full power when we were disabled?"

"They were then, but now they are not."

The _Condor_ kept moving towards what looked like a large hangar on the forward section of the gunmetal ship. Gavin didn't need to be told to extend the landing struts. Once they were at the back of the hangar the crystalline arm broke off and retreated back into the ship, leaving the _Condor_ and her crew alone. There was absolute silence until Gavin said, "Well, that was odd."

Another ship then arrived in the hangar, this one, though, had arrived under its own power. The occupants embarked as the door to their craft opened revealing women, and only women. A few more appeared from a hole in the wall and they exchanged words. The older one, as she had a cane, pointed at the _Condor_ , but the blue haired one just shrugged.

"Please tell me we have power to the Z-6 rotary cannon," Gavin pleaded.

Marlil checked her console and replied, "It only has half power but full Tibanna cells."

"Well, at least we have some kind of defenses."

"So, what do you want to do? They won't be able to get in as we still have enough power to keep the maglocks on the boarding ramp up and the bulkhead sealed for a time."

"The last assholes were men and they shot at us in trying to take my ship, maybe they'll be different?"

"Nines, odds of that happening?" Marlil asked the droid.

The droid paused before replying, "Ten to one odds say they'll try to take the ship. They attacked the Tarak ship without provocation meaning they intended to take it in the first place for whatever motives."

"So we arm ourselves and dissuade them from taking her," Gavin replied.

"I'll follow whatever order you decide to give, captain," Marlil replied.

"Then we're going out. Plus, we need those star charts if we're going to get home and deliver these weapons. Nines, just as a contingency, use the upper hatch and cover us topside."

A few minutes later the boarding ramp for the Corellian freighter lowered and the two humans walked out. Marlil had her entire Mandalorian ensemble which included many weapons like poison dart launchers, flamethrowers, and even a wrist-mounted rocket launcher. Gavin stuck with his DL-44 pistol which was severely overpowered if the holes it could punch into things was anything to gauge its power by. The women were already waiting for them and had their weapons pointed towards them.

The blue one commanded, "Put your weapons down, now!"

Gavin didn't show any semblance of fear, instead, he showed amusement. "Is that any way to show thanks for the wonderful support my copilot and I provided?"

She pointed a ring which looked like it had a focusing lens on it towards him and commanded, "Drop your weapons now!"

"I don't know, Mar. Maybe we should be telling her to drop her weapon?"

"She seems to be the hardheaded type," Marlil's voice came out, revealing that she, a woman, was working with a man. For a moment their brains stopped working.

"You mean like you?" Gavin jested. She slapped him on the back hard, but not too hard as this was something between them.

"Who are you?" the older one asked. She definitely had an authoritative air around her.

"Gavin Draydock, son of Corellia, smuggler by trade, at your service. And this here is my dangerous and lovely copilot Marlil Stocoff of Mandalore."

"I can do my own introductions, di'kut," Marlil muttered.

"Yeah, but you know us Corellians, we love to step up our production value. How else did you think we have one of the largest navies in galactic history," he bragged.

"I thought that was their ego or compensation for something else."

"And you'll pay for that during our next sparring match," he dismissed.

"Enough of this!" the blue haired woman wearing a skintight flight suit shouted. "You will put down your weapons now or we will open fire!"

"Oh, that would be a bad idea," Gavin said darkly as he tapped a button on his command gauntlet.

"Oh, and why would that be?" the elderly woman asked.

"Oh, just this." Immediately a hidden panel on the ventral hull under the port pylon pulled away to reveal the Z-6 rotary cannon which tracked their movements. "And him," Gavin then pointed to Nines who just appeared aiming at them with his EE-3. "And my partner and I happen to be quite the crack shots and quickdraw artists."

There was a pregnant silence as the women contemplated their situation. First they had a machine watching them from the high ground and a multi-barreled weapon that would be able to get off more shots than them. "We can solve this without violence," the elderly woman said breaking the silence. "What do you want?"

"A little compensation for helping you out," Marlil replied. "Star maps."

"Star maps?"

"It seems my crew and I took a wrong turn and need to find our way home," Gavin answered.

"You mean you're not from Tarak?" one of the women asked.

Gavin scoffed, "Of course not! Those guys have no sense of style, just drab uniforms that scream 'conform or die' to me. Also, I said I was from Corellia. Lovely place to visit, if you're interested. Well, that and the Brothers."

"The Brothers?" another asked.

"Yeah. Two planets that orbit each other in the same system as my beloved Corellia. It's quite the marvel."

"We'll give you whatever data we have for charts," the elderly woman agreed.

"And you have to not attempt to steal my ship," Gavin added. "Or try to jump either me or my crew to steal my ship."

"Oh, and why would we agree to that?"

"Other than it's locked out with a set of locks only I or my crew can disarm and if they're not entered within a certain amount of time it'll overload the hyperdrive generators and primary power plant to take out everything in a kilometer radius," Gavin said with a dark smile. He could even see a few gulp.

Once more there was a pregnant pause once more, longer than the last. Finally, the woman agreed. "My crew and I will concede to these terms. After all, we only wanted this ship. Plus, yours looks like a piece of junk," she joked.

"Hey! This ship can easily push 0.6 past lightspeed!" Gavin remarked.

Marlil could only facepalm… or helmet palm at her captain's eccentrics. Today was going to be a long day, she just knew it.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And this is what I have for this pilot. Hopefully, you all enjoyed it. I wanted to do another pilot instead of this one, or one of my main stories, but this one just wouldn't leave me alone; just like another, that won't leave me alone that hopefully I can get done quite quickly.**

 **I don't really have any real notes for this chapter other that Nines is a CIS commando droid and that him, Gavin Draydock, and Marlil Stocoff are my OCs for this story. I don't really have any visuals for them in mind, but you can imagine them looking like Han Solo for Gavin and Shae Vizla for Marlil. These are just placeholder visuals for now.**

 **So what would I have to do in order to make this a complete series? Well, first of all I would need to figure out what all I want to portray. I mean, I do want them to come across an old** _ **Harrower**_ **that's been long since abandoned so that it can be used in the final few episodes when they face the Harvesters. I also want this to be an action-comedy thing as that's what the anime is. I do want a romance subplot between my captain and copilot OCs that you might have seen the infancies of during the blast scene. I also want to have storytimes between the crew of the** _ **Nirvana**_ **and the** _ **Intrepid Condor**_ **of their plights; for the** _ **Nirvana**_ **their men vs. women war and Gavin's crew the whole Imperial vs. Rebel stories. After all, I do intend this to be set between** _ **A New Hope**_ **and** _ **Empire Strikes Back**_ **as there is a nice 4-year gap between them.**

 **As for the reason I cut it where I did, I pretty much took an episode and a half of the anime and made it one-sided from the perspective of the** _ **Condor**_ **crew. I wanted to leave more to really explore without it turning into an easily 10k+ pilot. If I come back to this one, I do want to leave content to explore on. The last thing I want to explore on is will the** _ **Nirvana**_ **crew assist the Rebels in any way, primarily during the Battle of Endor, the best space battle in the series in my book? These things and more are things I need to consider. I mean for the whole romance thing I could have Gavin fall in love with anyone other than Dita as she's confirmed to hook up with Ibiki in the OVA novel and they have a daughter together. I don't want to break that up at all. So TL;DR, lots of things to think about.**

 **That's all I have for now, lads and lasses. I'll see you guys all next time in the next one.**

 **And remember: [quote about things relevant to this story particularly]. And I fail to channel my inner Drunken Uncle.**


	26. A HP x HSDxD (fallen Harry) pilot

**Alright, so I have a new one for you guys. So, I have been looking at quite a few HP/Highschool DxD crossovers and I'm seeing a pattern. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad pattern and some of these are quite good (if you want I can give some recommendations on a few that I'm reading right now, should you want them) but I wanted to take my own spin on this. So far, I've seen Harry being a descendant of a Devil house and having his own peerage, Harry being a Piece to Rias's peerage, Harry being a Nephilim, Harry being an Angel, Harry is the second coming of God (literally), Harry as an all-powerful wizard just doing his thing, and there are a few others but you get the picture. Then I had the brilliant idea that follows: why not make Harry a second generation Fallen Angel? I mean, no one has done it before and I'm not seeing an influx of these of this specific type. Just looking at the listings right now for all ratings and English there's none of this type! So why not kick off a trend, eh?**

 **One of the things I love and hate about this anime is how cliché it is in the first season; however, it does get better in later seasons, especially for Issei. Don't get me wrong, he's not necessarily a bad character, but sometimes he can really be grating; especially when he's talking about building his harem.**

 **When will this take place? This will start before episode 101 (season 1, episode 1) and continue from there. As for HP timeline, it'll start post Battle of Hogwarts. I should also note that dates have been shifted in order for Harry to be 17 almost 18 by the time DxD starts.**

 **Rating: T+ to M for obvious reasons pertaining to the DxD series.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my laptop and my copy of MS Word.** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling and all those she allows to use the property.** _ **High School DxD**_ **belongs to** **Ichiei Ishibumi and those that publish the manga and anime.** **Although, I technically own this idea. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

 **{Music suggestion}**

XxXxXxX

 _Kuoh, Japan. Noon. Kuoh Academy. September 14, 2009._

Harry James Potter. Now depending on who hears the name one of two reactions will be prominent. The first being absolute disdain towards Harry as he killed many Death Eaters as well as those enthralled minions who bought into Voldemort's promise of a better Pureblood future. The second of awe and borderline reverence. There was a reason for all of that. The first was in the prophecy that Voldemort heard of eventually that he would be defeated by the 'power that he knew not.' Well, that power was the power of being the child of two Fallen Angels.

Soon after he had gone into the wild and gone solo for a while after both Hermione and Ron abandoned him during the Horcrux hunt, he had learned from a mysterious stranger that his parents were more than they let in on. After trekking to another Gringotts location, one that didn't want his head on a platter in France, he discovered letters from his parents left for him (something that the branch had to pry from the London branch's hands) explaining everything. They were Fallen Angels.

In their letters, they explained that they knew that Voldemort would kill them one way or another and that their priority was Harry and Harry alone. They used a ritual that would siphon all of their latent angelic abilities to forge a shield to not only deflect the Killing Curse, but also protect Harry as he grew up and until he could take care of and defend himself. They also explained how thousands of years ago they were created as Angels of Heaven. They had arguments with their peers about if they should be helping humanity directly at all or not. They had maddened Michael and they were cast out as Fallen, however, due to a lack of physical rebellion they weren't thrown out, more escorted to the gates and told to never return. For thousands of years they traveled the world and helped those they could, gave advice to those that needed it. But eventually they became tired of it all so they called in a favor that an old friend in Heaven owed them. They asked to be reincarnated into humans. This old friend agreed but on the stipulation that their powers and memories be sealed but only to become available to them once more in their deepest time of need, that time was when they were under attack by Voldemort at their cottage in Godric's Hollow.

Somehow, even as they were born into two different families with different backgrounds they still found each other and still fell in love with each other once again. Their story went as everyone knew the lives of James and Lily Potter, however, their end was of something more divine. Harry's life sucked, however, he always knew he was never normal. The funny thing was that even though he was born of two Fallen, he was a pure Angel for a time as he had yet to commit a sin.

After he had died and made it to Limbo, or the train station, it was revealed to him by Dumbledore about everything going on with Tommy and gave him the last critical information to defeat him, well more or less the whole thing about Nagini having the final Horcrux inside her. After Dumbledore left he was greeted by Gabriel, as in the angel, and yes, she is a chick. A very beautiful, busty chick. She had revealed to him his angelic heritage and how she was good friends with James and Lily when they were in Heaven and when they had come back to her with a favor she had accepted to reincarnate them under Michael's nose. She figured two of her friends deserved happiness, even if it was only temporary. She also revealed that she was an honorary godmother who couldn't directly interfere, but kept many other Angels, Fallen, and Devils from discovering him allowing him a mostly normal time away from the supernatural world that they belonged to. She told him that when he woke up he wouldn't be human anymore physically and his angelic powers would awaken.

She was right, as when Harry woke up he was in the arms of Hagrid. From there the final duel took place after he revealed the six gray wings from his back he struck at Voldemort and his followers with light based weapons and weaponized feathers. To say what he did was overkill would be an understatement. Voldemort resembled a porcupine due to the number of light spears in his body. The holy light had rendered his dark soul into nothingness, casting it to hell where he belonged. As for his followers in his Inner Circle, those that had joined Voldemort and had caused pain and misery for everyone were killed with light spears or sharp feathers through their bodies. In the end, only Draco's mother Narcissa, Draco himself, and the werewolves forcefully enthralled by Fenrir Greyback lived to tell the tale. Those that were low level were arrested by vigilant students or fled and were now wanted with bounties on their heads.

Harry's friends, of whom he still had some like Luna Lovegood, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and Gabrielle Delacour still kept in touch telling him through email about their time after the Battle. Many went back to school either at Hogwarts itself or at other, not destroyed institutions; or they went straight into a job like Ron did. As for Harry? He went his own way, traveling the world as a supernatural bounty hunter and freelance paranormal investigator. Right now, he was in Kuoh, Japan attending muggle high school as a foreign exchange student from England. Why? Well, because he did need an education. Just because he had angelic, albeit Fallen, powers that didn't give him the knowledge that a student would have gained; and Hogwarts was utterly terrible for anything not related to magic learning. There was a reason he chose Kuoh though as it was on the complete other side of the globe.

The Wizarding World viewed him as either a savior or a powerful being, not a human, that needed to be corralled and collared; he would never get any rest trying to attempt to live a normal life by dodging legal issues, fangirls attempting to get in his pants to become the next Mrs. Potter, or those willing to kill him either because he was a 'dark creature' or because he killed their master and/or relative who was a slave to Voldemort. The International Confederation of Wizards listed him as a war hero and as he did nothing wrong according to their charter they wouldn't go after him for anything he did during the year Voldemort ran amok. As mainland Europe was still too close for comfort and America, Canada, and Mexico were a simple long-term portkey away from a hitwizard team or a snatcher squad that would get him in another kangaroo court session like the one before fifth year or just kill him, he decided to head to the other side of the world. Japan to be more specific.

Japan existed in a strange legal state in the magical world, they had no true laws and magic was chalked up to be a strange phenomenon that some muggles obsessed over (see: Occult Clubs). Therefore, the powers that be decided to just roll with it. And it worked for them.

Harry currently stood on the top of the school's roof standing on the ledge of the steel railing that discouraged students from jumping off of it while doing his best impression of a tightrope walker as he carefully balanced himself as he took steps along the railing. He hummed a tune as he walked along it, the only onlooker being the pervert Issei. Harry only raised an eyebrow before turning ninety degrees so he was facing the sheer drop off the building, and stepped off of it with his wry Marauder grin.

Issei stood up and screamed out the window, but was both shocked and humiliated when he saw that Harry didn't go splat on the ground, but walking from around the corner without a scratch on him. He laughed while walking the other way at Issei looking like a moron, he was such an easy target. It was NOT hard to mess with that kid.

As he walked around the corner he closed his eyes as the light got blindingly bright. When it faded he felt two very soft orbs being pressed into his face and two arms wrapped around his waist tightly. He opened his eyes to see the enormous bosom of-, "Aunt Gabriel," Harry greeted, his voice slightly muffled by her chesticles.

"Oh, Harry-chan," she greeted sweetly and innocently, "I've missed you so much!"

"It's only been a month," he replied. "And would you please let me go, it's hard to breathe."

"Oops! Sorry," she apologized with a smile as she released him. As she did her chest jiggled unrestrained as angels tended to not wear any underwear (at least in Heaven) under her conservative yet slightly erotic gown.

"Auntie, not that I'm not happy to see you, but why did you just teleport me to the Gates of Heaven?" Harry asked as he tried to ignore the figure of the ditzy, sexually built angel in front of him.

"Stop calling me auntie," she cutely pouted, "it makes me feel old."

"In all fairness haven't you been around since the dawn of time?" Harry jested, but he quickly added as he saw her eyes dangerously narrow, "However, you don't look a day over twenty-five."

She perked up at the addition that he made and smiled once more. "Thank you for the complement, Harry-chan!" she beamed. "But I called you here for a favor."

"Ok…?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you know who Azazel is, correct?"

"Who in the supernatural world doesn't? He's the leader of the Fallen, or at least the largest faction of it," Harry replied.

"There's a man under his command who has severed ties named Dohnaseek. Among him are three other Fallen but there's one named Raynare."

"The last name sounds familiar for some reason."

"She's… an old friend. She, your mother, and I used to all be friends before they both fell. Your mother and I used to meet in private in the human world and have tea on a regular basis, of course before she was reincarnated. Raynare, on the other hand, kept her distance from me," Gabriel replied sadly.

"Not that I don't appreciate a little backstory, what do you want me to do exactly?"

She sighed, "Raynare has fallen in with a bad crowd. From what Michael has told me, they intend on collecting several Sacred Gears from humans, extracting them. Killing them. I want you to bring her to back to me before she kills an innocent."

"Do you know where she is?"

She shook her head in the negative. "No, all I know is that she is in the Kuoh area. She is hidden from our view."

"How could that be? I thought the most powerful angels in Heaven could see almost anything if they directed their attention towards it?"

"As you may have noticed, Kuoh is currently under devil influence, meaning that we cannot see into their territory using divine powers without alerting them to our presence. I think she is hiding out in a church abandoned by the Church."

Harry sighed, "I'll see what I can do."

"That's all I ask of you," Gabriel replied as she hugged him one more time.

There was a bit of an awkward silence to which Harry only said, "I should go."

"Don't be a stranger!" she replied with a wave as he leaned backward off the cloud they were standing on.

XxXxXxX

It had been several days since Harry met with Gabriel and he had little success. There were very few churches in Kuoh or the surrounding area due to Christianity being a minority of the religious population, something that you could learn from various websites sponsored by both the Japanese government as well as several others like the CIA Factbook (1). In Kuoh itself there was one active Christian church with a fair-sized congregation. He had spoken to the minister after a service to get other addresses of former churches that had closed. Harry had explained that he was interested in architecture and wanted to take photos of the church matter how old or run down they might have been. The minister appreciated that the structures would be preserved in photo form and wrote down at least a dozen addresses.

The process of going to each church was a painstaking process as he had to approach using non-supernatural means in order to keep his cover. The city metro, or trains if you prefer as they're all the same thing in technicality, made for a long trip from church to church. Deep ding o how far it was from the station would depend on how many he was able to scope out daily.

On the fourth day after visiting the single active congregation Harry felt a rise in supernatural power. First, there was a spike in corrupted angelic power followed by a spike in devilish power no more than a few minutes afterward. He cut his expedition trip short and investigated the site to find thin deep pitting in the concrete around a fountain used in the area by high school students to confess their love for another. He felt the residual energy of that used by a Fallen. In the same place, he felt a massive amount of power that radiated from Devils also.

'Minimal amounts of Fallen power followed by massive amounts of Devil power?' he asked himself.

He looked closer to the pitting on the ground and saw some still wet, but drying blood. It was freshly spilled. It seemed as though someone cleaned up the scene, but missed some spots as the velocity and spatter suggested that something impacted the victim at high speeds. Looking at the scene as a whole, he started to piece together what might have happened.

Someone was attacked by a Fallen, which was off since Azazel wanted to keep the peace to not start another supernatural war meaning that it must've been someone with Dohnaseek, and that person was left to die. Based on the fact that the massive amounts of Devil power arrived after a significant amount of time passed meant that a Devil had resurrected whoever was attacked. There were only two big Devil crews in town, that being the Gremory and Sarafell families (primarily the heirs of the families), both of which went to Kuoh High, meaning he just had to watch their peerages to see who was now a 'regular' in their group. That would reveal the who. As for the why, that was a completely different story. Why would a Fallen kill a human for no absolute reason? They were no threat to them unless they were a wizard who had powerful magic or the chosen of one of the pantheons (2). If the latter was the case, then Gabriel would have mentioned that someone with a Higher Being's blessing in the area. Which meant that the human had some other kind of trait that made him a threat. But what?

'A Sacred Gear?' he thought as he cocked his head at the scene. That would certainly make sense. Only humans could obtain and wield Sacred Gears as they were distributed by God in some kind of higher logic that he couldn't comprehend. Devils could only wield them if they were resurrected humans. Pureblood Devils had magic that was specific to their family that only their family could wield. There was a similar scenario for allies of Angels, but that only applied if they were Sainted. And reaching the status of Sainthood was no easy task, it took hard work from the human and acknowledgment from Heaven itself where a high-ranking Angel would vouch for them. It was a fascinating process of dedication. But unlike the Devil peerage (Evil Piece) system, there were few Saints. Rumors that he had overheard during his last visit to Heaven suggested that they were trying to come up with their own system for Sainting humans, especially those with Sacred Gears (3). Something about preparing for the worst in the case of another war.

But back to the point. What kind of Sacred Gear would cause this Fallen in particular to kill a human? Sure, there were a lot of Sacred Gears that could kill humans, Angels, Fallen, or Devils quite easily. But most humans were completely unaware that they even had one let alone how to access them. It had to be something that could easily jeopardize whatever plan that they had in motion to react to a non-threat. Now said threat was now a reincarnated Devil. This got more interesting and more complicated as he speculated more on the newly discovered information. For now, though, he would have to watch and wait (and continue to investigate where he left off) and act when the time was right.

XxXxXxX

 _A few days later._

The days had passed uneventfully with no major spikes in supernatural activity. Harry had investigated all but two churches as he still had to keep up appearances of a high school student. He still personally hated math with a passion, especially trigonometry. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division? Useful. A mass majority of trig? None unless you're going to become a math major (4).

School life for Harry was a bit of a double-edged sword and had a love/hate relationship with it. On one hand, he liked being another face in the crowd to have a borderline normal school life. There weren't any crazy life or death adventures that could cause the end of the world by the hand of a megalomaniac (Voldemort), just going to class daily and doing homework and talking to people his age. It was boring most of the time, but after having a pretty crappy childhood and every year of school at Hogwarts always had one or more life threatening events it was almost a pleasure for normal life events.

As for how he hated school life? Well, as a foreign exchange student who did have an appealing physical appearance that the Perverted Trio, Issei and his group of friends, called a 'damned bishi'. He actually had to go online to find out what a 'bishi' even was. Well, he understood why they disliked him now as apparently bishi was the shorted form of bi-shoujo (which is a term that can apply to both sexes but is more commonly associated with males) who are incredibly beautiful people who always attract the opposite sex even if they don't want it personally. He always got attention from the opposite sex where girls would constantly come up to him and start to hit on him. Don't get him wrong, he didn't mind the attention one bit; but some could get a little… clingy and stalkery. He was lucky that most of the girls that fawned over him were quite pretty. He mostly thought that most of them were interested in him because of his English accent and foreign appearance, which for most might have been the case. Then again, he didn't know the hearts of these girls and they could just be out to jump him (sexually, of course).

Harry had his suspicions on who the new Devil was. The day immediately after Harry had investigated the fountain site, Issei had been collected by Kiba after class. Rias didn't have anyone summoned to her exclusive little clubhouse unless they interested her. The Occult Club, Rias Gremory's club, is one of those clubs that you can't join no matter how much you beg or plead. After talking a bit with some of the older students, those that had been there their entire school career from Year 1, and many had approached Rias to join her club (as there were two cute girls inside of it as well as the 'queen' herself) but each time she turned down every request to join her club. She approached someone when she wanted them to and there had been only one person to join since boys were allowed at the school: Kiba. The fact she sent one of her club members to collect an unsociable (see: pervert) individual such as Issei to her club after school cemented him as the reincarnated Devil that he suspected. After all, he had an off feeling about him today.

He watched Issei from afar for the last few days to observe his behavior. He still went on about how he was going to create a harem for himself, but this time he seemed much more motivated to do so. Like someone had just promised him the Kingdom of Heaven and all of his desires within. Harry had heard him say such things before, primarily how he was going to be surrounded by beautiful women one day and that no 'damn bishi' was going to stop him. He always just laughed it off since it was the ramblings of a hormonal, horny teen who was ignored by girls who pined after attractive guys and found him too perverted for them. But there was something different this time, and not the whole Devil thing; but something else, something… even more powerful. However, that would have to be something he would file away for later.

He went through his normal routine and went home for the day. Later on, during the night he felt something… off. There was no other way to describe it. Harry made his way to an apartment complex in Devil territory in Kuoh. He carefully walked up the steps to the second story and saw an open door. It was then the smell of blood and other bodily fluids hit his nose. He carefully approached the apartment and the smell of urine, defecation, and blood grew all the stronger (5). The entire area unnerved him in every sense of the word. He looked in the room and what he saw sickened him. The entire apartment (see: room) was filled with splattered blood all over the place. You know the phrase 'all the' followed by some noun? This room was filled with all the blood. Well, not literally, but you would be fooled if you saw the room for the first time.

Lying on the floor inside was the decapitated body of a very overweight young man. But such a death could not cause the widespread splatter that he saw. No, this man had been sadistically tortured before he was decapitated. Harry didn't venture that far in, but he could tell that the wounds oozed light energy, as in Angelic light. The wounds of such weapons used were very distinctive; they were mostly clean and burned that which was unholy. As this man was a human, it didn't burn him. No, it slashed and pierced him just like any other weapon would to flesh. And it wasn't the corrupted energy that a Fallen had, as it had a more tearing-like wound pattern. Think of it this way: Angelic light was like a scalpel, Fallen light was like a rusty chainsaw. This meant one of two things: either Michael had put a hit squad out for some unknown reason, or there were Exorcists in play. But the thing was, Exorcists moved only when the Church told them to, whose leaders were spoken to by Angels. Meaning, that Rogue Exorcists were in the area hunting down innocent humans. After all, they still had the weapons that the Church had granted them which used Holy Angelic light. But why?

Harry looked around and saw a leaflet of paper that gave off a slight aura of Devil power. He picked it up and saw a runic drawing that originated with the House of Gremory. Reading it further it was the standard Devil contract, you would offer up something in return for something that you wanted. And it had been used recently, as in within the last few days. The dots finally connected for him. This man was murdered by a Rogue Exorcist because he had a Devil contract and used it. But there was something else. The Exorcist came back to the scene of the crime to try and kill something else. There was a Devil presence and the spiritual burning of a transport circle in the floor of the apartment, once for arriving and one more for leaving; there were also light bullet impact sites that were relatively fresh. So well after the murder, a Devil from the House of Gremory came and was attacked by the Exorcist. Based on the fact that there wasn't a Devil body as well (or the entire complex burned down), the Devil escaped.

This wasn't good, things were escalating and he was still no closer to finding out where the rogue Fallen base was, although he did have it narrowed down to two locations. Tomorrow was a Saturday which meant that he could scout both without many distractions. He left the apartment and made sure to use his magic to ensure that no one would know he was here. As this was Devil territory and this murder had been committed by someone using supernatural means, that would mean a cleaner from one of the families would come to clean the scene of the crime. Once he was done he walked once more into the night attempting to figure out what to do when the time came.

XxXxXxX

 _That Saturday. Late afternoon._

Harry had just finished his scouting of the second to last church on the list when he felt another spike of Fallen power. It wasn't like the other two times where it was slightly subtle. No, this was a lot larger. For once Harry didn't care about subtlety, he apparated as close as he could to the disturbance as he could without being seen. He walked to get closer, but only caught the end of what was happening. Raynare had a blonde-haired nun wrapped in her wings and whispered, but Harry was still able to catch it.

"That's a good girl. After the ritual tonight, you will be released from your worries and sorrows," she said in a sickly-sweet tone. Harry knew the kind, especially after he had to suffer through his fifth year with Umbridge. She then looked at Issei, who just so happened to be in a fountain, and said tauntingly, "Goodbye, Issei-kun."

Issei tried to get up but looked like a drunken monkey doing so. "No! Asia!" he shouted in vain as Asia, the nun, said a goodbye and disappeared in a puff of black feathers. Harry could feel for a split second, that Harry could have sworn that she looked right at him. Harry walked out of sight, but he could tell that Issei's master would be there soon to collect him, if from what he knew was true.

He had to prepare for anything that might happen. If Raynare came with him and abandoned her quest, then Harry could use her strength to assist him. However, if she continued to do this 'ritual' she spoke of and continued to side with Dohnaseek she would have to be terminated, much to Gabriel's displeasure.

There were few things that could kill a divine being, Fallen or not. Your standard means of killing (guns, knives, swords, ICBMs) wouldn't harm an Angel or Fallen (or at least kill them for good). However, weapons blessed by the big man himself or cursed by the original Lucifer could harm any of the divine beings (or Devils). Of course, using weapons like Weapons of Light were preferred choices for both Angels and Fallen as they could generate the light themselves so long as they had the strength. The stronger a Fallen or Angel was, the more wings they had (in pairs); the more wings they had, the more power that they could throw around before they became tired and completely vulnerable to pretty much anything.

Harry arrived at his apartment a short time later and went to his bedroom to open his chest. The chest looked like a chest used for pirate treasure with the iron bandings on the chest's top with an intricate looking iron lock that lacked the hole for a key. Instead, it had a depressed area in the shape of a thumb. He knelt down and pressed his thumb into it. He felt the pricking of his thumb and the chest opened. To the average person, this was an old chest, maybe an heirloom, but inside was a different story. He stepped inside and climbed down a ladder into an expansive, mansion-like area. Inside this chest was everything that Harry needed to live comfortably, hence his reason for renting such a cheap and small apartment, he didn't need any extra space other than what his chest needed to sit in. 'May God ever bless magic,' Harry thought.

Harry walked into the dedicated compartment (see: room) to storing weapons. Inside was what would make a weapons nut wet with envy. There were organized racks of weapons where one rack was pistols, another was shotguns, rifles, sniper/designated marksman rifles, and finally light machine guns. But in the middle of these weapon racks was a rack specifically for melee weapons, primarily swords. On each holder was each blade with its scabbard right below it. There were many types of blades from all around the world ranging from the single edged katana to the double-edged Viking blades and those similar to in the Western world. The one weapon that Harry was the proudest to own was the Sword of Gryffindor, one of the few weapons that the Goblins allowed Harry to keep considering his… lineage.

Harry picked up the ancient blade and examined it once more like he always did before using it. While it was never needed due to the Goblin forged steel that it was made of, he did it out of habit as regular weapons eventually deteriorated over time and needed to be repaired. Such a process allowed Harry to appreciate the Goblin made steel. Many of the weapons that he had inside this armory he had used on many different jobs that he had taken, but this one would have to be completed with the Sword of Gryffindor due to its unique ability to take in whatever made it stronger to empower it further. A prime example of this was when Harry slayed the Basilisk during second year, in which the extremely lethal, caustic venom imbued the blade. The same happened when he channeled his Light into it, it was absorbed just like the poison was.

The blade glowed slightly as the Light emanated from it ever so softly. He sheathed the blade and slung it over his back in a way that would be reminiscent of Aragorn in _Lord of the Rings_. Harry picked out a single pistol and holstered it in the rear of his pants. Harry knew that if Dohnaseek's Fallen had a single Exorcist working for them, then there were more than likely much more that they had working for them as well. While the Sword of Gryffindor was imbued with both Light and hyper-lethal venom, he wanted some extra insurance just in case. After all, humans could be killed by anything.

Harry emerged from his trunk and immediately apparated to the final church on the list of churches, but walked the last quarter mile in order to not immediately alert the Fallen inside. He arrived well before sunset and started scouting the church's parameters looking for weaknesses or traps. What he found were several 'tripwire' wards that would alert the one who cast it. There were no other wards than that. This told him that the Fallen and priests inside were extremely cocky thinking that they could deal with whatever crossed (6).

Harry must've lost track of time examining the wards because the next thing he knew it was sundown and felt the arrival of many Devils. Two used transportation circles to appear inside the wards where the last three appeared on the outside and walked inside once the Fallen were occupied by the two. Taking a wild guess, he was willing to bet money that Rias and her queen were acting as the distraction due to their sheer power. After all, anyone who was anyone in the supernatural world knew that Rias inherited the Power of Destruction, the house Gremory inherited power, a power that was ranked one of the most powerful offensive powers in the Underworld (the best contender for best defense is that of the Phenix family (7)).

Harry saw a Devil rune array appear in a sphere which roughly read as 'contain'. It was then he saw his opportunity and make his way towards the church entrance. Inside he saw Rias' rook Kiba fighting a Light sword wielding man wearing Exorcist attire, and he was keeping pace without missing a beat. None of the four noticed him, the three Devils as they had their backs to him and the single Exorcist as he was apparently caught up in the heat of battle. Issei summoned his Sacred Gear, a gauntlet of sorts, and ran at the Exorcist, punching him in the face causing him to fly into the wall in a heap. The Exorcist said something about 'shitty Devils' and threw a divine form of a flashbang grenade on the ground. Harry already had his eyes closed and stuck out his arm, clotheslining the Exorcist.

"And where do you think you're going?" Harry asked, looking down at the laid-out priest.

The priest groaned in pain and spat out, "Yet another shitty Devil?"

"Potter-san?" Kiba asked.

"I'd rather not kill someone in cold blood. Pick up your sword," Harry ordered. "We'll settle this like gentlemen. A duel, if you will." Harry then kicked the priest so that he flew a dozen feet back.

He got up and spat out blood. "You'll regret that, Devil," the crazed priest said as he drew one sword hilt that materialized a blade of Light.

Harry only laughed, "I'm no Devil." Harry drew the Sword of Gryffindor and summoned the other Light blade to his other hand. He pointed both towards the ground but flourished them in a taunt. The priest then ran at Harry, attempting to run him through. Harry only parried the blade aside and returned a probing stab of his own, something that the priest was able to barely dodge. Harry flipped the Light blade into a reverse grip and blocked a strike, literally pushing the priest back causing him to lose ground. He struck with the Sword of Gryffindor, to which the priest parried, but his blade was immediately struck with the now upwards Light sword mere milliseconds after. Harry then struck the now scared defending priest with both blades at once, following up with one blade after the other, following that up with a backhanded strike that caused the Light blade the priest held to be thrown from his grasp. Harry then ended the fight by striking with a scissor strike at the priest's waist (8). The priest looked down and saw that his blood was gushing out of his body. He then realized the sheer difference in skill, and the caustic, hyper-lethal poison now coursing through his bloodstream. "All too easy."

The deranged priest fell backward on the ground, his eyes watching the ceiling. Harry then walked away from the Exorcist, allowing him to bleed out. Issei then shouted, "I thought you were going to kill him!"

"He'll be dead shortly. The poison imbued in this blade is from the deadly Basilisk, the King of Serpents," Harry replied dismissively. "Come, there are more pressing things to attend to. Maybe he has just enough time to beg God for forgiveness for his sins," Harry said as he walked towards the altar.

"I follow the law of the Church. All shitty Devils must die!" the priest shouted, obviously in pain.

"Yes, but they said nothing about brutally murdering those that consort with them. You could have led them away to save their souls, but instead you elected to murder them, condemning their souls forever." Harry continued to walk away. "It wouldn't surprise me if this was the reason that the Church disavowed you and your little gaggle of Exorcist buddies I know that are nearby."

The three Devils followed Harry after giving the barely clinging to life psychotic priest a single look. They approached the altar and Kiba asked, "Potter-san, why are you here?"

"And what the hell was that, you damn bishi?" Issei asked, still clearly annoyed that he had been one-upped.

"To answer your questions in order: I have my own reasons for being here that result in the result in the defeat of this splinter cell of Fallen, and actually learning how to fight, Issei-san. If you applied yourself rather than obsessing over women then maybe girls wouldn't be so repulsed by you," Harry jabbed right as Koneko threw the alter aside revealing a trap-door leading downwards into the basement.

"I'm not that bad…" Issei stated, "right?" He looked to Koneko.

"Hentai," was her only reply before she walked down the steps following their new, temporary companion.

Kiba walked up to Issei and said, "He's not wrong, you know." Kiba too walked down the stairs.

Issei too walked down the stairs muttering under his breath, "Damn bishies not understanding why harems are great."

They walked down the stairs and through a small archway to reveal a large chamber that was high enough to easily fit a twenty-five-foot Christmas tree and still have some room to spare. At the end on the very top of a set of stairs tied to a cross in chains was a blonde-haired girl with European features dressed in conservative undergarments reminiscent of a night gown.

"Issei-kun?" the girl asked, delirious from whatever she was being put through.

"Asia!" Issei shouted out. He started to run, but Harry reached out with his hand keeping him from running any further. "What are you-?" he asked before he was interrupted.

"Let me handle this my way first. If it doesn't work we'll use yours, savvy?" Harry asked, emulating a certain fictional on-screen pirate. Issei reluctantly nodded. Harry took a few steps forward and kept his sword at his side, the tip pointed downwards. "Hey!" Harry shouted, getting the attention of Raynare, "We need to have a talk!"

The Fallen turned from the nun and looked at Harry. She looked to Harry and said, "So the Gremory bitch managed to add another little Devil to her Peerage. And what's with the getup?" She then paused for a moment, feeling none of the Devil power that Devils had that was completely incompatible with Fallen or Angels alike. No, it felt… familiar. "You're not-."

"I'm glad you found that out before throwing spears at me. I was personally going for the _Blade Runner_ look, the one that Harrison Ford's character uses. The two of us need to have a little chat. Aunt Gabby wants you to stop."

Her eyes widened in shock. "She doesn't care about me. After all, this church is outside Heaven's jurisdiction."

"True, but there are loopholes, as I'm sure you're aware of, by sending in a third party," Harry revealed. The Devils' eyes widened as this finally hit them as well, well, for different reasons, however. Their classmate wasn't a Devil and was talking to a Fallen like it was nothing; that, and he just name dropped someone named Gabby that both of them knew, and Harry called aunt. It was Kiba (followed by Koneko) who figured it out (Issei was totally lost). Heaven had been the first clue, followed by the Church having no jurisdiction here anymore (specifically this church in particular), and Gabby being the last.

Kiba's eyes widened as he asked, "You mean-?"

But Harry cut him off, still keeping his attention on Raynare. "She's sent me with an ultimatum: abandon this quest and this group and she'll welcome you back, all sins forgiven. But if you continue down this path and do what you're planning to this night you will be labeled as a lost cause and I have been requested to reluctantly terminate you. Hopefully, you choose the former, she's already lost one good friend this century."

Raynare's eyes seemed to widen in realization, after all, there were only three Fallen that Gabriel loved even after their fall. That being Lillian, James, and Raynare. "So, James or Lillian are-?"

"Both passed around seventeen years ago," Harry replied. "You're all she has left, at least outside of Heaven, that is." Harry took a few steps towards her, the priests in her employ slowly approaching as well, their hands already holding their weapons. "She doesn't want to lose another close friend. You doing what you're doing already is tearing her up inside." He stood firm, watching the priests closely in the corner of his eye. "You still have time to walk away. She's willing to welcome you back with open arms. All you have to do is walk away now."

Raynare stood conflicted. On the one hand, she had her orders from Dohnaseek, on the other, she had an old friend from before her fall that was willing to welcome her back with open arms and all she had to do was walk away. The Devils carefully watching her saw her conflict of interest and didn't act immediately. Issei wanted to fight the girl that killed him, that used his own hormones against him for a reason unknown still to him. The priests didn't know what to do; they knew that they had to kill the Devils, but the one that they had sworn themselves to hadn't told them to attack. The nun next to Raynare was just as confused but was relieved that she wasn't tortured anymore.

"If I walk away from this and let the girl go, I can go back to Heaven? I'll be welcomed back?" Raynare asked hopefully, her voice weak with shock.

"Yes," Harry nodded, "but only if you let that girl go."

Raynare looked over her options carefully. Finally, she decided. "I'll do it. I'll go back." She then ignited a Light spear and severed the chains that held the nun in place. The nun was freed, but before she could offer her thanks, a hand reached into her chest, but it was not Raynare's.

The group, sans the priests, looked on in horror to see Dohnaseek's hand inside Asia's chest, the area around it glowing. "Raynare, I am so disappointed in you," he chastised. "Giving up on our goal this far into the plan? I'm insulted." He then ripped his hand away revealing the Twilight Healing, one of the many powerful Sacred Gears. He lifted it up to his eyesight and began to admire the ring form of the Gear. "And to think you were this close to gaining my full trust and you decided to betray me. But you know what they say, you just can't find good help these days." Asia fell to the ground in a heap, her eyes barely open. Harry and Raynare knew that she would die if her Gear wasn't returned within two minutes, oddly the same amount of time that most people can stay underwater before they start to drown. "And now? You will die for your betrayal."

Dohnaseek summoned a sword made of Holy Light and lunged at Raynare, however, she was able to quickly summon a Light spear of her own to defend herself. Seeing this as the time to act, the Devils attacked the priests. Harry pulled out his pistol, your average, run of the mill Springfield Armory XD(M) .45 caliber pistol that he had obtained not too long after he left England. It had served him well many times before, well, when he decided to use it. It was unmodified in the sense of magic, other than it could not be ripped away from his grasp using the _Expeliarmus_ spell and it had that akin to a magic bio lock that would only allow him to use it as it was meant to (someone who got their hands on it could still club him or anyone else to death).

The first priest charged Harry with his sword, only for Harry to parry it and fire a round into his stomach, ending his role in the fight immediately. Koneko and Kiba charged in to make a path for Issei who had a thing for the Asia girl. Four priests surrounded Harry, he swung around and fired three shots, hitting each of them in the head, and decapitated the fourth all within one fluid motion. It was a ballet of death of a level that these priests had never seen before. Eventually, they were thinned out to the point where Issei could charge up the stairs and confront the two Fallen currently fighting at the apex of the structure. Taking this moment of opportunity, Issei grabbed Asia and ran with her quickly weakening state up into the main portion of the church; but Dohnaseek didn't care, after all, he already had the Twilight Healing, the girl was no longer required. A few priests tried to stop him, but Koneko and Kiba made sure to block their attempts.

Harry felt one other Fallen appear upstairs, but his current goal was Raynare as per the request given to him. Issei should be able to take care of himself long enough for his master to step in. Taking his moment to act, he jumped into the so-far two-man fray and made it a threesome. Dohnaseek made a motion to strike, but Harry stepped in and blocked the strike. "Might I cut in?" Harry jested.

Dohnaseek pressed against him harder but was unable to do so. "How is this possible, you're just another pathetic, lowly human?" he shouted with annoyance.

"Who ever said I was human?" Harry replied cryptically. He then allowed himself to reveal his ashen-gray wings. But it wasn't the fact that they were ashen and not black or pure white, but the fact that he had two sets of them, meaning that he was twice as powerful as any Fallen with one set; both Raynare and Dohnaseek only had one set. Harry turned his gaze towards the very scantily clad Raynare behind him and said, "If you want to sit this one out, you can."

"How is this possible?" Dohnaseek asked, still straining to push against his newly revealed opponent.

Harry got an impish grin, one that those that knew him knew that there was a prank on the way. "When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much they make love and a baby is born nine months later," Harry joked.

"QUIT PLAYING WITH ME!" he shouted as he tried for another slash which Harry sidestepped.

"No playing here, just the truth," Harry admitted.

It was then that Raynare put two and two together. "You mean you're-?" she asked.

"Bingo," confirmed Harry.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DRIBBLING ON ABOUT?!" Dohnaseek shouted in frustration that no matter what he did, either Harry blocked, deflected, or dodged anything that he threw at him. This much younger man was toying with him.

"Aww, he doesn't get it," taunted Harry. "Maybe we should end this now?" It was then Dohnaseek realized that he needed to think quick, if he didn't he would die here.

Harry started to actually fight back. He used lightning quick strikes while using his wings as feints to further disorient the much older, experienced Fallen Angel. Before Dohnaseek knew it strikes were coming from everywhere at once. He tried in vain to defend himself, but kept getting cut everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. It was like the old Chinese execution method of a Death by 1000 Paper Cuts. They came so quickly and so relentlessly that he was unable to use Twilight Healing to heal his wounds. Harry wouldn't allow him to heal. It was finally when Harry severed the hand that currently wore Twilight Healing when Dohnaseek knew that it was all over, that it was the end of the line. Harry caught the hand and promptly removed the ring that was Twilight Healing and held the ring in the palm of his hand, letting the removed hand fall away.

Dohnaseek fell to the ground grabbing his stump of a hand with his other hand. He backs up until his back is at the foot of the cross that was used as the catalyst of the initial Sacred Gear removal ritual. Harry turned to see that the two Devils were mopping up the remaining priests. Harry turned to the now disarmed Fallen and commented, "I believe we're done here." Harry turned to leave. "Do with him what you will," he addressed Raynare. "Meet up with me when you're done dealing with him. After all, he was the one that led you down this path."

Harry walked away from the two Fallen and past the bodies of the priests. He saw that the Devils were no longer in the chamber. He climbed the stairs and walked into the main place of worship to see the Devils surrounding one of Raynare's former allies, the one who wasn't a Lolita. "You shouldn't have insulted my subject," Rias said towards the Fallen on the ground. The Fallen looked up in fear as Rias generated an orb on her fingertip, showing that this was just a fraction of her Power of Destruction. The Fallen screamed in both horror and pain until it was drowned out by the roaring power of the Power of Destruction. There was a flash of blackness that caused everyone, including Harry, to close their eyes. When they were able to see again all there was on the floor was a pile of black feathers.

"Looks like this is all taken care of," Harry broke the silence. The Devils turned to look at him and got in fighting stances. Harry looked at what they were looking at and saw that his ashen wings were still out. "Ah, I forgot those were left out." He folded them behind his back and held his hands up in a defensive fashion, "Let's be rational here, we're all friends here." He got a slight glare at that. "Ok, allies of convenience with a similar end goal."

"What do you want, Fallen?" Kiba spat.

Harry reached slowly inside his coat and pulled out the Twilight Healing, showing it to the Devils. "I believe this belongs to the young lady there." Issei snatched the ring from Harry's hand and put it on Asia's middle finger on her left hand. However, it did nothing as she had already passed on. If there was one thing that being exposed to Death's trio of artifacts did, he was able to feel the passing of those recently deceased.

"President, I'm so sorry. You and the others came to help me, after everything I said, a-and yet, I… couldn't protect Asia," Issei said as he started to break down, tears running down his face.

"That's alright," Rias comforted him. "You just haven't had enough experience at being a devil. Nobody blames you."

"But… but I…" he stammered.

"This is unprecedented, but it's worth a try." Rias then pulled a white bishop out of her pocket and held it in her hand. "Do you think this is?"

"A chess piece," Issei answered as if he had been presented the most obvious question in the universe.

"To be exact, it is a bishop," Akeno explained.

"Akeno-san…?"

"A bishop's power is to back up the other devils in the household. Her healing abilities will come in handy as a clergyman," Rias added.

Issei then asked in shock, "President, you don't mean…?"

"I'm going to try bringing this Sister back as a devil," she explained.

"GabeN won't like it, but it's technically none of my business so long as you keep away from my meal ticket," Harry quipped. "What?" he asked innocently when he got several looks.

Issei and Akeno laid Asia out on the floor. Rias then summoned the family circle that was unique to her family line. She then started to chant, "In the name of Rias Gremory, I command thee, Asia Argento, that thy soul return again to this earth, and that thou become my servant devil. Rejoice thou in thy new life, as my clergyman!"

The bishop laying on top of her heart glowed red and sank into her chest, causing all of her to glow red for a moment before subsiding. "President, is Asia…?" Issei asked, unsure about what he was seeing exactly.

"Keep quiet," Rias ordered. Asia's hands glowed green for but a moment before she started twitching and opened her eyes.

"Asia?"

"Huh?" the young blonde asked.

"President!" Issei exclaimed in happiness as Asia sat up.

"I only brought her back because I wanted her power, which can even heal devils," Rias exclaimed.

Harry only chuckled, "Right, and I'm John Constantine, the demon hunter."

Rias shot Harry a glare once more. She then addressed Issei once more as she turned away, "From here on, you protect her. You are the senior devil, after all."

"Issei-san? U-um, am I…?" Asia unsurely asked.

All Issei could do was hug her and reply, "Come on, let's go home, Asia."

The rest of the Devils, even Harry included, looked at the touching scene. It was then the sound of heels coming up cement stairs were heard. "I assume you're done?" Harry asked without looking.

"Dohnaseek is no more," a familiar voice to Issei replied. He turned to look and saw Raynare, the woman that killed him no more than three days earlier.

He got up to defend Asia and summoned his Sacred Gear, but Rias acted first and stretched an arm in front of him, almost as if she was reading Harry's mind. "President?"

"If you act now you'll singlehandedly start a war with Heaven. She's Heaven's problem now," Harry replied. "I'm only still here to ensure her safe arrival at the Gates."

"He's right, Issei. As she has been claimed by Heaven, any unprovoked action against her will be interpreted as an act of war," Rias explained further.

He looked angry, as Harry had expected him to be (mainly because of the whole 'she killed me' thing, but as he was quite hot headed as well). "But she killed me!" he exclaimed.

"And she will be punished accordingly by both Gabriel and Michael appropriately," Harry added. "Chances are she won't be let out of Heaven without an escort to ensure she doesn't do anything they disapprove of. Assuming she's let out anytime during your lifetime, that is." He got an uneasy look from Raynare. "I don't know their minds or what your punishment will be," Harry shrugged. He was about to say something else when he paused, "Something's off."

 **{Constantine 2014 theme** (9) **}**

Harry walked over to where Freed's body had once been, only to see a void. He knelt down and touched the ground with his first and middle fingers and his thumb. He scraped against it as if touching a liquid and lifted his fingers up to eye level before rubbing them together. There was unseen magic that was used, and it felt… wrong. There was no other way of saying it. It was like that used by Cthulhu and his ilk, that being someone from outside this dimensional plane.

"What is it?" Rias asked for everyone.

Harry only stood up and smoothed out his trenchcoat-like jacket out. "I don't know, and I don't like it," he replied as he walked back over to Raynare.

Harry then extended his wings and wrapped them around both him and Raynare. It was then Asia asked, "Umm, who are you?"

Harry only got a wry grin and replied, "My name is Harry Potter. I'm the one who steps from the shadows, all trenchcoat and arrogance. I'll drive your demons away, kick them in the bollocks, and spit on them when they're down. Leaving only a nod, and a wink, and a wisecrack. I walk my path alone because let's be honest, who'd be crazy enough to walk it with me?" It was with that he disappeared in a whirl of ashen feathers.

There was absolute silence until Kiba asked, "Wait, did he just quote John Constantine?"

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, another pilot set up and knocked down. That was a bit different, wasn't it? Well before I go into my normal after pilot things I do have some numbered notes this time around.**

 **1\. This is 100% true. Christianity is considered to be 1.5% of the entire population as of 7/12/17 according to the CIA Factbook. Quite a fun site to explore when looking for information on other countries.**

 **2\. It is considered canon that there are different pantheons in the** _ **DxD**_ **universe of which are in charge of different regions and those that worship the appropriate deities in the religion.**

 **3\. This is a hinting at the Brave Saints system that is implemented later in the series as a counter to the Evil Piece system.**

 **4\. This is my exact feeling on math in the higher-level math classes. Math is important, but not everyone needs to know trig, calc, or other super-complex math courses. Sure, they should be available, but you shouldn't be forced to take those specifically.**

 **5\. This happens to you when you die, as disgusting as it sounds. Since your higher brain functions fail to continue function, your muscles just release. And what muscles control bodily functions? Those. You want to know if someone's dead, just take a whiff, you'll know almost instantly.**

 **6\. After watching the anime once more with the scene where Mitelit confronts Rias and Akeno I always wondered how they knew; wards made absolute sense and it fits with the universe as well.**

 **7\. This would make sense in-universe as well. It would make sense why on a power level (and not a sexual one on the part of Raiser) that Rias would be arranged to be married to Raiser Phenix. They would have children with the possibility of being completely unstoppable super soldiers.**

 **8\. This entire fight sequence was inspired by the one that's in the "Return" cinematic from** _ **Star Wars: The Old Republic**_ **where the master of Satele Shan fights Darth Malgus. (YouTube) watch?v=mm4JEZudf0c.**

 **9\. (YouTube) watch?v=Yyt4hmiBEO0.**

 **So, what do I want to accomplish with this fic? Well, the first of which is what if Raynare could have been saved? Then what if Harry was thrown into the mix with his heritage as well? These were things that popped into my head as I read many other stories that are HP/DxD crossovers. I can guess there may be a few of you who might ask who I will pair Harry up with. First and foremost, I, like in many of my other fics, am going to stay away from a harem.**

" **But Phil, DxD is a harem anime; how could you not want a harem in a harem anime?" I can hear you ask. Well, Harry has no reason to really have a harem. I mean, Issei gets one later due to actually becoming a King in the whole Evil Piece system allowing him to have a Peerage of his own which can be filled with as many women as he desires. You could argue him getting the "early access" or "beta" version of the Brave Saints system would be an ample opportunity to create a harem, but once again I really don't see the logical reasoning to have one. If this were a devil!Harry fic then it would make sense for him to have a harem, something that I might explore in the future. But that is neither here or now.**

 **For a pairing? I don't know. Perhaps maybe Rosweisse? Maybe even Raynare? Perhaps Gabriel as she's a technically non-blood aunt? Irena? I don't honestly know. I mean, maybe I can dig back into the HP characters and maybe implement Luna as she's a lovable oddball that would fit right in with all these other oddballs. At this point I'm going to just run with what I have as thinking of a romance subplot is always fine so long as it works with the plot idea and doesn't detract from it. That's my philosophy on it at least.**

 **But that's all I have this time around for this pilot as this one has been sitting around on my hard drive since November of 2016 so that's about eight months there. Yeah, sometimes I sit on these for a while. You are free to see that as either good or bad, it's your opinion. But yeah, tell me what you think. Do you think this fresh take on the HP/DxD crossover is something to look forward to? What do you think works? What doesn't? Have a suggestion for a pairing? How do you think I can tastefully (and I stress "tastefully") implement a harem without it feeling forced or clichéd? Let me know in the review section down below.**

 **That's all I have for now and hopefully, I'll see you guys all next time!**


	27. A SW x RWBY (Thrawn reborn) pilot

**Well, I had this wacky idea after reading this other story called "The Grand Admiral" by elektroboot98 (** id: 12442288 **). Now if you know anything about me, especially given the mass majority of crossovers in this repository, is that I am a big** _ **Star Wars**_ **fan. This pilot is no exception to that rule. So, what is this one all about? Well, what certain character in the SW universe is a Grand Admiral who's a big fan favorite? Thrawn. Ah yes, the blue skinned, red eyed Sun Tzu of the Star Wars universe *fond sigh*. You know, next to Legends Luke Skywalker, Thrawn was my next favorite character and always my absolute favorite Imperial character. His Empire of the Hand was what the Empire should have been. But enough of my fanboying over this excellent character who triumphantly re-entered canon with both the novel aptly named "Thrawn" and his appearances during season 3 of Rebels.**

 **Given the fact that the previously named story has entered hiatus in order to revise it, I thought I could do a little thought experiment using the same initial premise but with my own take on it. So, what does that mean? Thrawn will be reborn into the world of Remnant and work his way through the ranks of the Atlesian military until he holds the rank he had during his height of the Empire. This specifically is where my story will deviate from elektroboot98's story. However, I shall hold my tongue further as it will all be further explained in this pilot without giving too much away. After all, I do have quite a few ideas and I do have Thrawn's journals as references that I can use; well, as well as his appearances in Rebels as well.**

 **Rating: T - T+ as I am unsure where everything will exactly go in terms of violence and such.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word.** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney and** _ **RWBY**_ **belongs to Rooster Teeth. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

" **Transmissions."**

XxXxXxX

 _White Fang base, Lantis._

A dozen White Fang members sat around a single terminal watching as their carefully hidden cell was destroyed little by little, allowing them to see just how futile their resistance was against the Atlesian military. However, it wasn't the entire military after them, but a single Atlesian Airship and several support ships. Then, as sudden as it came, the attack stopped.

"We've got an incoming call," a male snake Faunus reported.

"Bring it on screen," the cell's leader ordered. A single individual's upper torso and above filled the frame of the screen. The figure wore a white uniform only reserved for those high up in the Atlesian military, specifically the Navy. "Grand Admiral Thrawn," the leader growled in greeting. "Have you come to request our surrender?"

" **On the contrary, Lapis Fredrickson,"** Thrawn replied. **"There is no escape and your forces are outnumbered. This part of your rebellion ends today. I am not accepting surrenders at this time. I want you to know failure, utter defeat, and that it was I who delivers it crashing down upon you. Now, let us proceed."** The admiral's image disappeared from the screen and absolute dread filled the remaining White Fang members.

Up in his airship, Thrawn ordered, "Open fire." Every gun battery opened up with their lasers, peppering the once serene forest with laser fire reserved for capital ships. Lasers tore into the hills and ground causing detonations below ground when lasers found Dust cashes, munitions dumps, or a generator. The bombardment went on for dozens of minutes before Thrawn ordered, "Hold fire." Several lasers still left as they were primed to fire while he was speaking. The bridge crew sat there for ten minutes as the dust settled. Thrawn then asked, "Sensors?"

There were taps at consoles and a crewman replied a moment later, "None detected, sir."

Thrawn had a thin smile showing his satisfaction with the result of this operation. "Excellent. Chart a course for Beacon, we do have a schedule to keep."

"Aye, sir."

XxXxXxX

 _Two days later, Beacon._

The _Chimera_ approached the docks of Beacon with a type of intimidating elegance that few could accomplish. Thrawn sat in his office aboard his airship watching the scenery pass below him. The semi-reflective nature of the impact resistant, ballistic glass allowed him to once again look at his features, something he did less and less with each passing day, but at the beginning had been a constant in his daily routine. His blue-black hair was still the same, his general facial features were the same. The one big thing that was different with him was that he no longer had the blue skin that the Chiss were known to have; instead, he had the pinkish hue of skin that all humans had but with patches of blue snake skin. His eyes retained the red color that they always had, but his irises were now slitted like a feline or lizard's were

This was one of the more interesting discoveries that he had made early in his young life. These eyes specifically belonged to the Faunus species, a sub category of humanity that evolved both similarly but slightly different to obtain animal features and traits. It was when he was five standard years old that he had come to the following conclusion: he had been reborn into another life after his death at the hand of his closest assassin. That had been the single flaw in his plan. By allowing the information that the Empire poisoned the ground of Honoghr, the Noghri turned on him. Perhaps if he tried to make amends they might not have turned on him. But that was neither here nor there.

He was born to a cat Faunus father and a wolf genus father. He himself was a snake. Fitting, as snakes were known to be cunning when hunting their prey. He grew up in Atlas, impoverished like the rest of his species due to the… xenophobia that the Atlesian humans had. When he was sixteen he enlisted in the Navy and just like before in his previous life had rocketed through the ranks until he held the position of Grand Admiral. It was hard to prevent his rise to his position due to the loyalty of his subordinates as well as his track record. In every battle he walked into, he always walked out with the minimal number of casualties possible. Like before he also took his subordinates' suggestions and concerns into consideration when creating a plan.

He turned his mind away from thinking about the past and looked at the art that he had collected over his years as a career military tactician. Statues, paintings, sculptures, original book printings, and the like. There was a lot of art styles that Thrawn noticed that the galaxy that he left behind had here as well. 'Strange, there must've been several art movements that echoed each other both here and there,' he thought at one point in his early life.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when the intercom system activated. **"Sir, we're on our final approach to Beacon now,"** a voice on the other side reported.

He reached forward and pressed the button on his desk, "Thank you, ensign. Please ensure that our final approach to the docks proceeds smoothly," Thrawn replied in his calm voice.

He looked out of the window to see the docks closing in. He stood up and straightened his uniform before leaving his office. The doors closed behind him with a hiss as it locked shut. He gestured to the two troopers stationed at the door of his office. "You two, come with me," he ordered.

They walked through the labyrinthine corridors of the airship until they reached the embarkation bay. The normally sealed wall lowered until there was a ramp that made contact with the docks. Thrawn walked off his ship as dockworkers started mooring procedures and refueling protocols, rushing around in a state of controlled chaos. Like ants in an ant colony.

The three walked through the courtyard of the school. Thrawn caught several students from the various schools staring at them; well, primarily him. You normally didn't see a Faunus in Atlesian High Command attire, primarily as Atlas was extremely biased against Faunus in general. There were a few students, primarily those in the Atlesian uniform, as they were part of Ironwood's academy, that recognized him; and how could they not? His tactics of past battles were still studied to this day. Thrawn heard footsteps behind him and didn't turn around, but greeted, "Lieutenant Commander Vanto, thank you for joining us."

The man walked up to him holding a Scroll in hand. "My apologies, Admiral. It seems as though there was a fight that broke out in the crew quarters that needed to be broken up," the strange twang of the man's voice a stark contrast to Thrawn's.

They walked into Beacon proper, primarily the main entrance hall. "And I assume that the involved parties were punished appropriately?"

"The two responsible parties are currently detained in the brig until they can be debriefed as to why the fight broke out in the first place."

"Good. See to that they are thoroughly questioned so that this is satisfactorily resolved. We cannot have dessert in our ranks this close to the upcoming trials that face Vale," Thrawn calmly stated as they entered the main elevator that would take them to the highest level of Beacon: Headmaster Ozpin's office. The ride was short and quiet except for the noises of breathing and whirring machinery on the elevator. The doors opened and the four disembarked into the short hallway that ended in a doorway and a secretary's desk.

"Ozpin is expecting you," the young woman said without looking up from her work. "You may go right in."

"Thank you," Thrawn replied. He then turned to the black armored troopers. "Please wait out here, this meeting won't take long." The speakers from the helmets came out garbled as the scramblers did their job. They stepped aside and took a position near the doors to the office standing at a relaxed attention stance with their weapons pointed towards the ground. The secretary was a bit unnerved as she had heard the 'horror stories' from the tabloids that talked about black armored Atlesian troopers that spoke was garbled voices, like zombies. There were even some rumors that explicitly claimed that they were zombies, the reanimated bodies of Atlesian soldiers that fell in battle. She tried to put her mod off of it and returned to work.

Thrawn and Vanto walked into Ozpin's office. Their movements didn't to unnoticed to either headmaster as they turned to see him. "Admiral Thrawn, what are you doing here?" General Ironwood asked (see: demanded).

"I put in a request to high command to be stationed here to reinforce you," Thrawn replied. "And it's Grand Admiral now."

"Grand Admiral?" asked Ironwood in shock.

He touched the rank insignia on his uniform lightly. "Yes, the council and high command thought that a promotion was needed after my campaign on the Faunus settlement of Manaan who were harboring White Fang members in their midst knowingly. The operation was completed with minimal casualties on all accounts."

"My belated congratulations," Ozpin said warmly, his voice contrasting Thrawn's deliberately cool and calculated way of speaking. "But I'm sure that you didn't come all this way just to reinforce the General's forces, have you," Ozpin said matter-of-factly with a wry grin.

Thrawn replied to his grin with a small line of a smile himself. "You are quite perceptive, Headmaster. No, I didn't come all the way from Atlas for just a simple reinforcement. Pieces have entered play that were once idly standing by."

"Meaning?" Ozpin encouraged him to continue.

Ironwood sneered, "Yes, enough of your riddles." Ozpin gave his old friend a stern look.

"Lieutenant Commander Vanto, if you would," Thrawn encouraged with an astride gesture.

"Yes, sir," the youngest man in the room replied with his twangy accent. He brought his Scroll up and opened it. "Headmaster, the lights, if you would?" Ozpin nodded and pressed a button on his desk. Shades lowered over his office's windows and the lights dimmed. Eli pressed a button on his military issue Scroll and it started to project a map of Vale. Another tap brought up many red dots on the map. "As you can see these are the reports of thefts involving Dust in the last few months."

"Yes, and?" Ironwood asked impatiently.

Eli swallowed a retort and pressed another button. "And these are specifically attributed to the serial thief Roman Torchwick." Only five of the well over twenty dots still remained.

"I can also see that. Why are we talking about information that everyone in this room already knows?" Ironwood blurted out of annoyance. However, Eli was unperturbed.

"Yes, we all know this information. But we must ask ourselves 'why?'," Thrawn replied.

"Why?"

"Yes," Thrawn confirmed. "First, we must ask ourselves why is Torchwick stealing Dust?"

"Because he's a thief!"

"You aren't wrong," Thrawn said as he walked closer to the projection. "But why attack this many places in so short of a time? You mentioned that he's a thief, I do not argue with that assessment. But why is he stealing this much?"

"Indeed," Ozpin agreed. He pulled up a file on his own computer on his desk. "Arrest records state that before this string of armed robberies that he was a small time, petty criminal. Only short-term scams and basic thievery."

"So why is he now escalated to a more lucrative market?" Vanto asked.

"An excellent question, Commander," Thrawn complemented. "In order to understand the purpose of these thefts, we must look at the plundered goods. Commander Vanto, a list of the stolen goods, if you would." Eli tapped a few buttons and a text based log appeared on the projection. "As you can see both cut, uncut, and refined Dust was stolen. However, if you'll look closer, there is more stolen uncut Dust than any other form reported stolen. Commander, I believe you told me a while ago that you have a cousin that runs a small-scale Dust refinery?"

"Yes, my elder cousin Bethany runs her family's Dust refinery under contract from Schnee Dust Company," Eli confirmed.

"And you worked at said refinery for a time?"

"I worked there during the summer between my final year of schooling and the Naval Academy, yes."

"Tell me," Thrawn said as he looked at the map more carefully, "what can be done with Dust."

"Well, the most obvious use with refined Dust is in weaponry and circuitry. Bullets, lasers, and the like as well as the engines that propel our airships and other modes of transportation."

"And the others?"

"Well, uncut and cut Dust can be further refined into refined Dust. However, some prefer the uncut or cut Dust to then personally refine it and either enhance or decrease the elemental properties depending on the intended use. There's one other use that slipped my mind."

"Oh?" Ironwood asked.

"Both cut and uncut Dust can be used as an explosive alternative to plastic or chemical explosives," Eli finished.

"And the difference between cut and uncut Dust?" Thrawn asked.

Eli closed his eyes in thought as he touched his chin. "Well, uncut Dust is more powerful but has a more uncontrolled blast. The cut is less powerful but has a more controlled and directed blast."

Thrawn ambiguously asks, "So why is he stealing it then?"

"Oh, please. He's just going to sell it," dismisses Ironwood with a hand wave.

"Perhaps," Thrawn replies thoughtfully. "Commander, what is the current price of Dust?"

"As of the market opening earlier today," Eli replies as he looks up the numbers. "it's running at two hundred percent higher prices than what was being reported before the thefts."

"If Torchwick was selling the Dust for a profit then prices would fluctuate between normal and higher prices as the Dust supply was suddenly decreased but increased shortly later through other means like fences and pawn shops, even if they were at higher prices during their return to the marketplace. However, this is not the case. The more demand there is, the more the prices increase as there is no supply for it, causing shops to order more Dust from SDC and other companies which are also hit during their shipments," Thrawn explained. He gestured to Eli once more and the map had many yellow dots appeared on a world map. "These are attacks by the White Fang on Dust shipments confirmed by both Atlesian drone footage as well as eyewitness accounts. These attacks are too close together to be anything less than collusion."

Ironwood's jaw dropped in shock. How could he have not seen the pattern as well? "So, you're saying that Torchwick is colluding with the White Fang?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes," Thrawn replied.

"So Torchwick and his goons attack businesses causing the need for more Dust to replace the stock they lost, but the White Fang then attacks the shipments via train causing the stock to be lost," Eli revealed.

"Causing the shops to lose twice the amount of money, once for their lost inventory to their shops and once more when SDC and other companies raise the prices to compensate for their losses," Ozpin added. "Causing our Hunters and Huntresses who rely on Dust based munitions for their weapons to have to pay more for them."

"Precisely the same conclusion I came to as well," Thrawn said.

"Why would anyone want to disrupt the Dust supply to hurt our Hunters? They're the ones keeping the masses safe from the Grimm!" Ironwood exclaimed.

"The latter isn't entirely true," Thrawn replied. "Our militaries do well against the Grimm, however, I do concede that Hunters and Huntresses specialize in eliminating Grimm and Grimm specifically. Them not being able to do their jobs efficiently is detrimental to the population. It is my belief that Torchwick is not the mastermind behind this."

"What makes you think that, Admiral?" Ozpin asked with his hands folded, clearly interested.

"The patterns do not match," Thrawn said as he approached Ozpin's office's window. He looked out to the school and the city below. "Torchwick is the kind of man who commits to short term scams and easy targets that can easily claim money through insurance on said property stolen. His criminal history proves this mindset he holds. This type of planning and execution is beyond him. Someone else is pulling the strings behind this plot. I believe one of your students mentioned a woman with Torchwick the day of the robbery that brought your attention to her, Headmaster Ozpin; a Ruby Rose, if I am correct."

"Indeed, she mentioned a woman with a fire based Semblance; something that Professor Goodwitch can corroborate," Ozpin confirmed. "However, neither of them managed to see the woman's face, only what she wore."

Thrawn rubbed his chin in thought. "Yes, she seems to be more of the mastermind type; or at least higher up on the food chain."

"You think she's middle management?" Ironwood asked.

"Perhaps. It would be risky revealing yourself this early into the game. The only reason to reveal your face before any plan has been fully implemented and executed is if someone in the plan is expendable and you intend to take care of them when their part has been played out. If this were just a robbery scheme involving shop fronts I would resign that she is the mastermind. However, given the scale gravity of the outcomes that their thefts present, my thoughts are that this woman is only one or more steps higher than Torchwick in this plan."

"What makes you say that?"

"The fact that the White Fang is also working with him would have to mean they are doing it begrudgingly. The White Fang of old was, of course, a civil rights group who peacefully protested the treatment given to Faunus. At that time, they also welcomed human supporters. Now, this group is now extremely anti-human and it would take something that both saw as an enemy to bring them together to work on a plan such as this."

"The governments of Vale and Atlas?" Ozpin suggested.

"Huntsmen and Huntresses?" Ironwood suggested.

"Yes," Thrawn replied. He turned to them, "The White Fang are fighting on ripping apart the governments that oversee both human and Faunus alike, the thieves are stealing indirectly from the Huntsmen and Huntresses that protect those citizens. It is a two-pronged attack."

"I see," Eli said as he too came to the same conclusion. "While Huntsmen are semi-autonomous units who can work alone for a long period of time, they still need to receive orders in order to effectively direct their attack. Without the governments to give real-time information on targets, they will be in disarray and ineffective towards larger threats that we normally would see ahead of time."

"Precisely," Thrawn agreed. "It is also my belief that they will try and cripple our communications array."

"They would try and destroy the CCT?" Ironwood asked in shock.

"It wouldn't be the first time a CCT node went down for suspicious reasons. Didn't one of the secondary CCT relay towers go down on the westernmost coast of Mistral not too long ago?"

"Professor Lionheart expressed worry as well, however, he did say that the relay went up no more than a week later. Apparently, he stated that there were technical difficulties," Ozpin replied.

"That's what's worrying," Thrawn stated. "Were they able to discover the origin of the problem specifically?"

"Some kind of technical glitch, according to his most recent communication on the issue he said it was some kind of technical glitch."

"Interesting," Thrawn murmured. "It is my belief that the secondary CCT relay was a test."

"A test?" Ironwood asked in shock.

"Yes," Thrawn simply replied. "This prodding attack would allow the perpetrators to test our cyber defenses before refining their attack further until they're ready to strike. Given the increase in attacks both direct and indirect leads me to believe that it will be soon. Vytal Festival soon."

"The Vytal Festival? They would be mighty confident to attack an event where many Hunters and Huntresses both in training and those who are experienced are going to gather to watch and participate in the festivities. Especially now that the Atlesian military is here with two decorated officers who have led successful operations," Ozpin prodded.

"I believe there is a much bigger motive in play. They had many years to attack other Vytal Festivals held in other kingdoms, what makes this one special?" Thrawn rhetorically asked. "It's a special target that only presents itself here and nowhere else."

"And what target do you believe that is?" Ironwood asked carefully, seeing the slight glint in Ozpin's eye.

"Does the name… Amber mean anything to you?"

There was a deafening silence. "Where did you hear that name?" Ozpin asked calmly.

"There were unsecured reports from a computer that one of my special task squads recovered from a White Fang base. One such report included the name Amber inside it as a 'viable candidate'. All other data was lost concerning that though. Then I started digging deeper, after all the White Fang doesn't take interest in anyone for no reason," Thrawn said as he paced slowly, making sure to keep eye contact with both Ironwood and Ozpin. "I found out that a little over a year ago a Huntress was sent out on a mission, but never returned. Her family kept filing Missing Person reports, but they kept getting shuffled to the bottom of the stack each time. That Huntress's name? Amber. Once more I further investigated and found an eyewitness report that a young woman with tanned, brown skin and brown hair had been attacked by three individuals and was left for dead. Shortly thereafter a man appeared to take her seemingly lifeless body away. The eyewitness didn't need a sketch artist to tell him who the rescuer was, Headmaster Ozpin. Because it was you."

Once again, the office was silent. "What do you gain from presenting this information?" Ozpin asked as he stood up, his hands on his cane.

"Nothing in the vein of what you're currently thinking," Thrawn replied, his voice portraying confidence and the type of coolness that only he could project in spoken word. "I merely wish to know why such a girl was targeted. Her family has no military or political connections that could be exploited with either her capture or death, meaning she was targeted for another reason, a reason that you know."

There was a long silence. The silence unaffected Thrawn, but Eli and Ironwood definitely felt the tension in the room. "What do you know about fairy tales?" Ozpin asked carefully.

"Enough to know that there is always a bit of truth in legends."

"I assume you know the tale of the Four Maidens, then?"

Ironwood whipped around to face his old friend. "Oz, you can't seriously be thinking of telling him this," Ironwood asked in shock.

"You don't trust the Grand Admiral?" Ozpin asked.

"Not him," he sputtered out, "his aide!"

Eli immediately shot up and was about to speak out when Thrawn replied, "Commander Vanto has served by my side for many years both as a loyal officer in the Atlesian navy, but also as my friend. He wouldn't betray the secret that you keep and intend to reveal. He has had many opportunities over the years to commit espionage but has never taken them. I vouch for his trustworthiness."

There was once again an uncomfortable silence, primarily between the three Atlesians. Finally, Ozpin broke the silence, "Very well, if you vouch for him."

"You're going to trust him with a secret like this, just like that? It took me years of gaining your trust for you to reveal the same to me!" Ironwood indignantly shouted.

"That's enough, James," Ozpin replied calmly. "It took me years because I was still unsure if your interests would only involve Atlas alone instead of the entirety of Remnant. We all know how Atlas has… exploited certain people for their own benefit and gain. I wanted to ensure you didn't share the same… aspirations." He then shrugged. "Besides, if we can trust a certain Specialist with events and information that could be considered conflicts of interest and a certain drunkard crow, we can trust these two all the more," Ozpin said with a smirk.

"I am honored to receive such a privilege, Headmaster," Thrawn humbly said. Eli could have sworn he heard Ironwood say 'Kiss ass' under his breath.

"As I mentioned before, you both know the tale of the Four Maidens, yes?"

"I don't know anyone who hasn't heard the tale growing up, Headmaster," Eli replied.

Ozpin nodded. "As the Grand Admiral said before, there is a bit of truth in legends. The same could be said for this tale as well. Millennia ago a wizard gave four young women incredible powers. Over the generations, this power would be passed to the person they thought of in their dying breaths. Most times it was a family member, but it was always a girl who the power went to."

"And eventually one of the Maiden's power was passed to young Amber," Thrawn finished. "I now see why she was particularly targeted. However, it feels as though you're leaving something out. Something important," he noted.

"Yeah," Eli spoke up, "if they killed her wouldn't it just go to another person? That would make killing her a moot point and a waste of time."

"Indeed," Thrawn agreed.

"I too thought the same at the time. After further reflection, it appears that our unknown entity has learned how to siphon the powers of a Maiden from them unwillingly to another host of their choosing. How they do this, I do not know. However, I did arrive in time that they were spooked off and were only able to finish half of the transfer," Ozpin replied.

"What would happen if all four women who currently hold these abilities are… siphoned, if you will?"

Ozpin shook his head, unsure of the truth himself. "I do not know. But all I do know is that this world will enter a time of darkness never seen before, especially those who intend to use those powers for less than decent reasons."

"And Amber herself, where is she being kept?" Eli asked. "You yourself said that they only managed to finish half of the transfer."

"She is being kept safe under medical observation, close enough to defend at a moment's notice."

"Do you know the identities of the other three?" Thrawn asked. "If we know who they are they can be put either in protective custody or have an escort ready to assist with assailants."

"At this time, we only know of one other. However, we do not know which of the remaining she possesses. She is currently under the watch of an… associate," Ozpin cryptically replied.

"That's one way of speaking about her," Ironwood muttered.

"But regardless she is safe," Ozpin reassured the Atlesian military men. "But enough about dourer things. Admiral, as you are here now quite unexpectedly, would you care to guest lecture in one or more of the classes here?"

Thrawn thought on his options for a moment. He could scout out students here from Haven, Atlas, and Beacon to evaluate whether they would be threats or not. After all, the Vytal Festival combined with the earlier revealed information would make infiltration a viable threat. The CCT relay was installed directly on campus and would be a target for the opportunity driven assailant or spy. "I would be honored to impart the knowledge I've learned over the years to your students. At the same time, it would allow me to… evaluate the contenders for the Festival's tournament," Thrawn replied. "You, of course, are welcome to sit in and listen as well."

Ozpin smiled, "I just might take you up on that offer."

XxXxXxX

 _That afternoon._

When teams JNPR and RWBY walked into their class with Professor Goodwitch, they immediately heard the murmuring of the other members of Beacon as well as their guests who were sitting in on their host's classes to compare what they had learned to them. They saw Sun and Neptune and sat down next to the duo.

"What's with all the muttering?" Yang asked the two.

"I don't know," Sun replied. "Rumor is that your class is going to get a guest speaker."

Ruby's eyes widened in an almost comical fashion. "Oooh, I wonder who it is!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Maybe it's the Mighty Mogar!"

"Isn't Mogar one of your comic book characters?" Blake asked in an almost deadpan.

Ruby seemed to deflate, "I can hope, can't I?"

The bell to begin class rang and the still incoming students quickly found a seat in the desked stands either with friends or randomly with other people. A few seconds later Professor Goodwitch stood up from her desk and approached her students. "Good afternoon, class. Today we will be taking a slight break for today-." Cheers broke out. "-however, my students at have their homework due for today to hand in as well as tomorrow's assignment which will be sent to your Scrolls." The expected groans broke out in place of the cheers. "As you all may have heard from some of the previous classes, we have a guest lecturer today." Murmurs once again broke out, but hushed to almost a whisper. They heard footsteps coming from the side of the desks, but still in the shadows. Those that looked closely could see a pair of glowing red eyes that unnerved them. "Future Huntsmen and Huntresses, may I introduce Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Atlas Navy," she said with a welcoming, outstretched arm.

Out of the shadows, dressed in pure white naval officer's uniform, Thrawn walked towards the center of the classroom. The first that they all noticed was the borderline glowing red eyes. However, for some it was the Faunus features that he had, primarily his eyes and patches of dark blue snake-like scaly skin that was only visible on his face as the officer's uniform covered the arms and legs making it look very constrictive but somehow was loose enough to fight in if needed. Though for Blake, her reaction was completely different. For her all she felt was dread. She had heard of the mythical Faunus admiral who WILLINGLY worked for Atlas; his brutal efficiency and the pure tactical genius that he employed against the now terror group.

Behind them and out of sight, Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald had the same reaction of surprise. They had heard the rumors floating around of an Atlas big wig stopping by, but not a grand admiral, and a Faunus one at that! Cinder looked at the door that would have led to the professor's office and saw a human wearing another Atlesian naval officer's uniform standing by the door to it.

Thrawn's eyes raked over the class, looking at each of them with an analytical eye. He then turned to Professor Goodwitch and said with a slight now, "Thank you, professor, for the introduction." He then turned to the students, "Headmaster Ozpin has given me the prestigious opportunity to share my knowledge with his students." He looked to the professor and asked, "You teach combat training in this class, yes?"

"Indeed, I do," Glenda replied with a hint of pride.

"Very good then." He turned to the class once more. "Many of those skilled in technological warfare believe that physical training and discipline are unnecessary with lasers, airships, and armor plating and the mental resources to direct them muscular strength and agility are thought to be merely concedes. They are wrong. The mind and body are linked together in a meshwork of oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and neuron health. Physical exercise drives that meshwork, exercising the brain, and freeing one's intellect. Simulated combat has the additional virtue of training the eye to spot small errors and exploit them. A change in focus can also allow the subconscious mind to focus on unresolved questions. Simulated combat often ends with the warrior discovering one or more of those questions has been unexpectedly been solved. And occasionally, such exercise can serve other purposes."

The class was entirely silent as they pondered the words of the Admiral. Many of them thought back to times where they had gone to a gym with an issue that they didn't know how to solve, but afterward thought up a solution for their problem. Thrawn spotted a singular blonde boy in the audience who looked uncomfortable, almost out of place. Thrawn could have sworn that the boy didn't belong there.

He continued, "No one is immune from failure, all have tasted the bitterness of defeat and disappointment. A warrior must not dwell on that failure but must learn from it and carry on. But not all learn from their errors, that is something that those who dominate others know very well and know how to exploit. If an opponent has failed once at a logic problem, his enemy will try the same type of problem hoping that the failure will be repeated. What the manipulator sometimes forgets, and what a warrior must always remember, is that no two sets of circumstances are alike. One challenge is not like another. The would-be victim may have learned from the earlier mistake. Or, there may have been an unanticipated or unknown crossing of life paths."

The blonde-haired boy seemed to take that monologue to heart. Obviously, he had failed many times in the past, perhaps now he would be able to look back at his previous shortcomings to learn from them and improve himself. Thrawn had already looked at the class roster and knew that the blonde boy was named Jaune Arc and that he led a team. In fact, he knew the names of those who were team leaders. The surprising thing that was revealed to him was that the Schnee heiress was not named a team leader, unlike her elder sister who had been in Atlas' academy, but a silver-eyed girl by the name of Ruby Rose. She shared many physical similarities to the long since MIA Summer Rose and assumed dead, a name and face that he had seen many years ago on missing posters and on news reports asking for information from anyone who had seen her. Therefore, it was logical to say that the two were mother and daughter in terms of relation. However, in all of the student audience, there was only one team that caught his eye. That being a black haired young woman from Haven, if the uniform was correct, and her two companions that stuck close to her.

"There are many stories and myths about the Chiss." This got the immediate looks from both the black-haired woman as well as the more buxom blonde sitting near Ruby Rose. There also seemed to be a sign of realization from the black-haired girl sitting next to the blonde girl who was only barely keeping her heritage a secret with the bow on her head. "Some are accurate, others have been eroded by the twin forces of distance and time. But one fact has remained constant. The Chiss must be approached from a position of strength and respect. One must have strength, for the Chiss will only deal with those who are capable of keeping their promises. One must have respect, for the Chiss must believe that the promises will be kept. There will be many cultural differences and a warrior dealing with the Chiss must be wary of them. But never make the mistake of believing forbearance equates to acceptance, or that all positions are equally valid. There are things in the universe that are simply and purely evil. A warrior does not seek to understand them, or to compromise with them. He seeks only to obliterate them."

Glenda was unsure where exactly where this last little monologue was going as it seemed to derail from sparring entirely. The first made sense as it pertained that physical training was still valid even in an age where technology was forever evolving. The second suggested that even in failure you can learn from your mistakes and that those that had won should be wary as the previous victim may have learned from their mistakes. But the third? That came completely out of left field. Why talk about these… Chiss? That made no sense at all.

"Grand Admiral, who exactly are the Chiss?" Glenda asked.

"The Chiss are a very elusive, secretive society of Faunus. They keep to themselves and out of affairs that do not directly involve them," Thrawn replied. The one black-haired woman perked up at first but immediately lost interest as soon as he revealed that they keep to themselves. "I am Chiss," he revealed.

The Schnee heir's hand shot into the air. Thrawn nodded towards her. "Why are you a part of the Atlesian Navy then?" she asked with a _slightly_ haughty tone, a tone that Thrawn had been long since used to dealing with when he talked with humans that were less than happy with his position.

"All beings begin their lives with hopes and aspirations. Among these aspirations is the desire that there will be a straight path towards those goals. It is seldom so, perhaps never. Sometimes the turns are of one's own volition as one's thoughts and goals change over time. But more often the turns are mandated by outside forces. It was so with me. A life path may change because of important decisions or events. Those are what drove my current path."

The students looked beyond confused, even Glenda was confused. Thrawn had just answered with a non-answer that brought up more questions than answers.

'He was forced to join?' thought one. 'He joined of his own volition?' thought another. There was so much to unpackage there before they even began to understand what it meant. Yet another thought, 'He lives up to his reputation, ambiguity and a type of mysticism that few can understand.'

Glenda looked at the clock and saw that the time set aside for lectures was coming to an end before sparring between volunteers would take place. "Our time set aside for lectures is coming to an end. Are there any questions for the Grand Admiral before we continue on with volunteer sparring?" Glenda asked her class (and the visiting schools' attendees).

The first arm that shot up as that of Ruby Rose. "Ooh, ooh, pick me!" she said with gusto and excitement. Thrawn gestured to her to continue. She put her hand down and asked, "Is the military exciting?"

Thrawn let out a slight chuckle. "It is believed by many that the military life is one of adventure and excitement. In truth that life more often consists of long periods of routine, even boredom, with brief intervals of challenge and danger. Enemies seldom seek out their opponents. Therefore, the warrior must become a hunter, searching and stalking with craft and patience. Successes are often achieved by a confluence of small things: stray facts, unwary or overheard conversations, logistical vectors. If the hunter is persistent the pattern will become visible and the enemy will be found. Only then will the routine be broken by combat. It is not surprising, therefore, that those seeking excitement sometimes weary of long and arduous pursuits they are relieved when the enemy appears of their own accord, standing firm and issuing a challenge. But the wise warrior is especially wary of those times, he knows there are few things more dangerous than a skilled enemy on his carefully chosen ground."

Thrawn made sure to give an especially uncomfortable glance at the audience of students. A few were unsettled, mainly by the glance. However, he did see one person who looked more scared than ever, and it wasn't the disguised Faunus in the room. In fact, that young woman took his words to heart by the looks of things. She was obviously searching for someone or something. No, it was the woman in the trio of students sitting near the top of the gallery. Her expression was more of fright. 'But fright of what?' Thrawn asked himself. 'Was she in on this conspiracy?'

He was broken from his thoughts as Glenda said, "Thank you, Grand Admiral, for your wise words."

"It was my pleasure," Thrawn purred as he kissed the professor's hand in a chivalrous manner. His voice still maintained its cold demeanor that sent a few shivers down spines of those that overheard it. "If you wish, I can stay behind and offer commentary and suggestions for students that wish for some more insight after their spars."

Glenda took her hand back and replied, "No, thank you. But I do appreciate the gesture." She then addressed her class, "Those who wish to challenge each other for matches may start as of now."

Thrawn chose that moment to walk out of the classroom cum arena. Eli met up with him as they exited into the stands and out of the room entirely. In the stands, the students began to talk amongst themselves as two students from Atlas decided to take the first set of fights.

It was Ren who spoke up first. "Blake, what do _**you**_ know about the Chiss?"

She stiffened before relaxing once more, but still looked uncomfortable. "What makes you think I know anything about them?" she asked in turn in an attempt to deflect the question.

"You really tensed up there when the name was said," Nora said in a hyperactive whisper. "It wasn't hard to see." She then looked over to Yang, "You too, Yang."

"I've only heard some stories mom used to tell about them," Yang revealed. "Apparently she met a member of this Chiss Ascendancy years ago on a solo mission. She only told me that they were highly militarized to deal with Grimm threats and that they kept to themselves as a whole."

"Blake?" Ren prodded.

She tried to think of another excuse or non-answer, but couldn't. "Pretty much the same as what Yang said. They're a highly secretive community of Faunus of unknown size. They're highly militaristic and prize family and honor amongst their prized traits. There are even rumors that say that they're all super geniuses in one way, shape, or form. The scariest thing though is that no one knows if they're nomadic or have a hidden home on one of the so-called uninhabited continents," Blake replied.

"They don't sound that bad," Ruby stated.

"They inherently aren't and apparently if the stories my mother told was true, she even dealt with them a time or two in the early days of the White Fang before it became what it is now," Blake replied. "But this Thrawn person, I've heard of him."

"Oh?" Weiss asked with interest. After all, there weren't any Faunus in the Atlesian military other than Thrawn.

"From what I've heard in certain circles, he's wiped out White Fang cells with extreme prejudice. There are stories from Fang members that outright deserted because of what they witnessed that he would either send in a black armored unit with radio scramblers using an encryption method so complex that by the time it was deciphered, it was too late and the ones being attacked were killed quickly and efficiently. Other times Fang strongholds outside civilian populations are subjected to aerial bombardment from ships he commands or air strikes from crafts under his command. There are even rumors that suggest that he can form entire strategies from just looking at the art of the place a person is from."

"How come it seems that you know more than you're letting on?" Pyrrha asked carefully. She wanted to know the truth as well, but not at the cost of a friend.

"There are rumors about him personally. Some as to why he joined Atlas, others as to his true reason he isn't with the Chiss anymore. He hasn't confirmed or denied any of these claims making him seem more of a mythical person in reality. There's another rumor about the Chiss and that's that all of them have glowing red eyes, or at least they look like they glow." The two teams (and Sun and Neptune) thought about that for a moment. An entire Faunus civilization that had glowing red eyes, eyes that were eerily reminiscent of Grimm's eyes?

'Creepy,' they all thought with a borderline comedic shiver.

Any further discussion was cut off as team CRDL challenged Pyrrha to a spar.

Meanwhile with Thrawn and Eli. They walked out of the classroom to see Ozpin waiting for them. "That was an interesting lecture," he commented.

"Indeed, it was," Thrawn replied as they continued to walk and Ozpin joined them. "Hopefully they will take some of my advice to heart."

"Advice?"

"Yes," Thrawn said simply. "One shouldn't downplay physical training, one should learn from failure, there are things that are evil that can't be understood as to why they are evil and therefore need to be destroyed, your life path may change with differing circumstances, and one must think like a hunter to find an enemy and be wary when they show themselves to you of their own volition." They passed some students who were passing between classes. Upper classmen if Thrawn was to make a guess. "I believe young Blake Belladonna took the latter to heart. And young Jaune Arc the one about learning from one's mistakes."

"Indeed. She is having an issue with her past at the moment," Ozpin replied.

"You mean her ties with the White Fang?" Thrawn neutrally asked.

Ozpin was shocked. "You know?"

"Yes. There are few who have heard about the Chiss, let alone that they exist. The only ones who have are higher up members of the White Fang, primarily those who were around in the early years, those who have been told the tales from those who have encountered them, and certain Headmasters. It appears a few have heard the tales if reactions are anything to go off of. You need not worry about me going after her, Headmaster."

"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked for clarification.

"She has distanced herself from her former comrades. I believe they had a difference of opinion and decided to part ways. Therefore, I have no reason to go after her for her previous crimes as it seems they have been pardoned. I would, however, appreciate any information that she has shared about the White Fang be forwarded to me."

"Of course," replied Ozpin, now relaxed that his student was safe.

"Mr. Arc doesn't belong here, does he?" Thrawn asked.

"What makes you say that?"

"A lack of confidence, perhaps. Or it is that he feels extremely uncomfortable in this setting. A fact that you already know." Ozpin tensed once more. "However, there is something that you see in him, isn't there?"

"You wouldn't think that I would allow an unqualified person to enter Beacon when there were other more qualified potential students?"

"I think that you have the absolute final say in who does and doesn't come here, much like General Ironwood. However, you were never one to be outside the know. Especially considering more… recent information," Thrawn replied.

"And you do not have an issue with that?" Ozpin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Thrawn shrugged, "It is your school, your rules. You may conduct yourself however you may choose."

There was silence as they reached the main entrance to Beacon. "There was something else in the student audience that you saw, wasn't there?"

"Yes."

"Do you wish to elaborate?"

"I need more information before I can be certain. Going off half-cocked may cause a false conclusion to be established. Request a detailed student dossier for students that arrived for the Vytal Tournament as well as those who came in support for their classmates from both Shade and Haven and forward it to me."

"You suspect one or more of the students?"

"Yes," Thrawn replied. "Logically from an infiltration perspective, it makes sense."

"Indeed," Eli agreed. "Students would have an easier time coming in for the tournament with weapons and not be questioned about it. Adults, on the other hand, would."

Ozpin thought it over for a few minutes. "I do not like it. Suspecting students of espionage." He then relented, "However, I do see the logic in it. I will request the Headmasters of Shade and Haven to forward the required information."

"And I will do the same for Atlas," Thrawn added with a nod. "Together we can figure out the conspiracy before the trap can be sprung."

Back inside Beacon, Cinder excused herself to go to the ladies' room. She checked the bathroom for occupants before closing and locking the door to it. She pulled out her scroll and dialed a specific number. She waited for the voice on the other end.

" **This better be an emergency,"** the female on the other end threatened.

"It is," Cinder replied, "we may have an unforeseen kink in the plan."

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, another pilot down. That was certainly an interesting one, wasn't it?**

 **This time there aren't any real numbered notes, but there are some things that I will clarify. First, Lt. Commander Eli Vanto is a canon character that was established in the novel "Thrawn". Second, the Thrawn that is described dying is the Thrawn that is seen in Legends. Third, I am borrowing a lot from the canon novel in terms of some of Thrawn's speeches that he gives to the class as they're all from the prologues of some of the chapters from the book. Fourth, I am making the Chiss in Remnant a secretive Faunus society that acts a lot like the Chiss from canon. They're mysterious as we haven't seen anything of them in canon outside of Thrawn in his novel and** _ **Rebels**_ **. By making them mysterious allows me to take them in whatever direction I choose.**

 **Ok, so what do I want to do with this fic in particular?**

 **Well, first of all, there isn't going to be any pairing with Thrawn. That chivalrous kiss he gave Glenda's hand? It was nothing more than a gesture, nothing more. Thrawn will play a key role in the eventual attack on Beacon during the Vytal Festival. Now whether he'll be able to stop certain deaths I am unsure of as this is, of course, a pilot. I really want to portray Thrawn's tactical genius and the implementation of certain Star Wars tech like TIE Strikers (as they are atmospheric variants of the TIE family) as well as the Death Troopers which I briefly showed earlier in the pilot.**

 **But that's all I really have for now. Do you have any suggestions for this fic? Write them down in the reviews or PM them to me (or both).**

 **Also, to the guy who keeps posting really great guest reviews: please get an account and PM me, I really want to pick your brain on a few things.**

 **Anyway, that's all for now and hopefully, I'll see you in whatever I post next.**


	28. A HP x Avatar: TLA (Azula x Harry) pilot

**You know? Sometimes I really need to cut back on these pilots, because they when they pop into existence in my head and take over what should be saved for my ongoing series, it takes a toll on you, especially when you have people constantly asking you when the next chapter of [insert title here] is coming out. *Sigh*, but I digress.**

 **But what is up party peeps? I have a new one for you guys. What is it? Well, if you read the title you would have seen that this is an HP/Avatar: TLA crossover pilot! Insert cheers! But there have been a few really good crossovers of this nature in the past, one of which I'm reading is called "Green Eyes & Fiendfyre" by Nefarious Matchbox (**id: 11995624 **) which I found to be one of my favorites which is well made. Like most stories, mine included, it's got a few errors here and there but it is well paced and it is fully enjoyable.**

 **So where am I going with this? Well, I want to throw my hat into the ring too. So, how is this going to work?**

 **So, in most stories I do I have Harry taken away at a young age or discovered by someone; this time, I'm doing something different from what I've done before: reincarnation. Here's how it's going to go down: sometime after the Final Battle Harry dies and instead of moving on to the Great Beyond (Heaven, paradise, etc.) he is reincarnated into the son of a Fire Nation general/official and becomes friends with Zuko, Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai. He will not retain FULL memories of his past life but will have flashes which take a while for him to process that may range from memories to skills/technology and maybe even tactics that he's done or come into contact with.**

 **Harry will be a fire bender with a green hued flame, similarly to how Azula has a blue hued flame when in her control. He will not have magic but will have a knowledge of it (once he learns of it from his memory flashes). He will not be portrayed as some kind of mega OP character that I've seen many do in many different crossovers both good and bad alike, but will be as realistic as I can make him, especially with this specific universe.**

 **Now for pairings. Everything will be as it is in canon. Sokka with Suki, Aang with Katara, and Zuko with Mai (although I am thinking of a second HPxATLA that will mix that up, but I'll cover that when I do make that). Now there's one person that we never see outside of expanded material again in the realm of TV material and that's Azula. What am I getting at? An eventual Harry/Azula pairing. Hey! I thought it was interesting and would be quite the challenge, and based on her personality I was certainly right on that remark. Especially with her canon manipulative personality; definitely a challenge.**

 **I thought it would be prudent to also mention that I'm not the first to publish this idea, however, I like to believe that I came up with it first on this site even though I have no way of proving it. …Wow, that sounds really pretentious. I apologize. This other fic that involves a Harry and Azula pairing (or at least strongly hints at it) is called "Emerald Fire" by Hellfire17 (** id: 12471502 **). In my opinion, it's not bad, worth a look if you're interested.**

 **Rating: I'd say T to T+ due to maybe some language and insinuations, especially if you know of the Joo Dee theory/conspiracy theory ([YouTube]watch?v=F-3KdFA4qvo for reference). Possibly some cutaway insinuations involving relationships between a duo, maybe even observations of a character's future… physique. I can though safely say that this pilot will more than likely won't go over a K+ to T rating just for this installment alone. In a full, future release it is possible that the T to T+ rating would apply.**

 **I should also mention that this fic will primarily be a First-Person perspective fic from the eyes of a reincarnated Harry. Any Third Person perspectives will be from a narrator's perspective like I have done in many of my other fics both in this repository and in other works I've done on this site.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling and** _ **Avatar: The Last Airbender**_ **(or** _ **Avatar: The Legend of Aang**_ **in Europe) is owned by Nickelodeon. I only own original ideas. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

XxXxXxX

One Harry Potter's life had certainly been an interesting one. "Interesting" was an understatement, but interesting none-the-less. He lived through the impossible, that being the Killing Curse. He lived through mentally abusive relatives. He survived a magic school where five of the seven years there was something related to Voldemort out to kill him. He would later graduate from Hogwarts to become a fairly successful Auror. He would even take some private cases off the clock to help out the little guy when it seemed like their problem was swept over due to other issues in the internal affairs of the Ministry. These people weren't overtly looked over, it just happened. And he decided that he would be the guy to help them out when possible. Sometimes these private cases carried over to his job where they became part of a larger case.

His career would come to a grinding halt when he would make an unscheduled visit to Hermione who had been working in the Department of Mysteries at the time to figure out the Veil of Death. Hermione's reasoning for looking into it was the Laws of Thermodynamics. Primarily that matter cannot be created nor destroyed. The thesis of her research was that the Veil acted like a portal, otherwise the soul would just be stripped away leaving a dead body on the other side. However, after liking back on Sirius's passing, there was never a body, he was just gone forever. If it weren't for the fact that he had friends and family (and other personal effects) it would have been like he never existed in the first place. This trip was where Harry made his biggest mistake, and it was innocuous. He tripped and fell into the Veil of Death.

That's right. Harry Potter, Master of Death, the Man-Who-Won, the Boy-Who-Lived, Auror Captain didn't meet his end at the hands of a dark wizard or witch after hours of pitched combat or old age. No. It was an untied shoe.

However, this wouldn't be the end of Harry Potter. No, Dumbledore was right when he said that death was just another step on next great adventure. Harry's life is about to get more… interesting.

XxXxXxX

 _No one can really say where their life path will take them, not even for a single day. I can say that's pretty accurate. -Hari Xiao Long, personal journal. (1)_

As far back as I can remember, I was always an… odd child. An interesting child. Or at least that's what my mother kept telling me. I will admit, there are times where I just feel more mature than other kids my age. I don't know why, but while they're dreaming of either being married to the crown Prince or princess, I'm trying to figure out what would be the most logical choice for my life. Here I am trying to plan out my entire life and I'm only eight years old.

Who am I? My name is Hari Xiao Long. There's a funny reason behind my name. You see, when I was born I was supposed to be named Haru after my grandfather, but the midwife wrote my name down wrong on the birth certificate as Hari. According to one of the servants who were there at the time, father was furious. However, my mother, being the unofficial politician that she was, told my father that she liked the name and that it had a ring to it for some reason.

My father is a strict man, and rightfully so. He's a general in the Imperial army of the Fire Nation. Well, when I was born he had just been promoted to be a general in the army. He wasn't home much, then again, the war with the rest of the world, primarily the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, would tend to do that. But when he was home from whatever Spirits be damned deployment he was forced to take he tried to spend as much time as he could with my mother and I. He was never… affectionate in the conventional sense. He cared for both me and my mother, however, I think he kept his distance emotionally in the case that he died in the line of duty. Regardless, mother and I enjoyed his company when he was around.

Due to me being born into a very respected position in society, I never truly wanted for anything. If mother and I walked through town and I saw something I wanted, it was mine so long as it was reasonable; mother was quite strict on that. I was a well behaved and quiet child who was loyal to the Fire Nation and the Fire Lord. During the pledge to the Fire Lord and Fire Nation, something always rubbed me the wrong way about it; I never knew why, but it just didn't feel right. The wording and how it was presented. Father's pay from the military paid for our fairly large estate which was maintained by numerous man and maid servants who tended to us as well in the kitchens or in cleaning. However, mother believed that I should carry some form of responsibility and decided that I should have to clean up my bedroom whenever I made a mess, the maidservants weren't allowed to clean it, only me. Me being young at the time, obviously, I was a bit miffed about that, enough that I had a little… tantrum.

There was only one important thing to note about this tantrum. As I acted like a petulant child now that I look back on it, I let out a small stream of emerald colored fire. This obviously shocked my mother (not the tantrum part, as you might expect as parents had to deal with such things) and immediately informed my father. Very few fire benders had fire that was colored anything else other than red-orange. The only known person that did have hued fire was Princess Azula. From then on father hired a tutor who was sworn to secrecy about the hue of my fire; such rumors of this would cause undue attention brought to me, something that my family and I were not prepared for in the slightest. When it was to be revealed, it would be on our terms when we were ready.

Everything went well and good. My family life was stable, I had a mother and father that loved me dearly, and I had one or two friends from slightly lower but still high ranked families in town. However, that all changed with one little visit to the Fire Palace one midsummer's day with my father.

XxXxXxX

 _Hari, 9 years old. 5 years before Avatar sightings._

Today was an abnormality. One could say that it was unexpected. Father decided to bring me to the Imperial Palace with my bodyguard. Apparently, he wanted me to see the interior of the palace along with interacting with some of the people inside as I was probably going to interact with on a regular basis as I got older and started looking for a wife, friends, or associates in those circles. High society types tended to group together and form alliances, even if they were just social alliances that had gatherings and parties. If there was one thing that mother had drilled into me, it was social etiquette for the upper echelons of Fire Nation society.

Mother had insisted on me wearing my best clothes when she heard that father was going to bring me to the palace. She too was shocked at this recent development. My father's excuse had been that he had been planning on spending some father-son time together with me, something that we rarely got time to do anyway. Apparently, he was going to take me to a tea house and play Pai Sho for a few hours while talking about things. The shop that he usually frequented when in town was on the other side of the upper-class part of town and the palace was right in the middle, making it an obvious stopping point as he did have military business to take care of.

The family carriage, which had its own dedicated driver, rolled down the capital streets towards the palace. My father was looking through a scroll. "Father, why do you have to go to the palace today?" I ask.

My father looks from the scroll and sighs. "Technically I'm not supposed to be telling anyone, but I'm supposed to be coordinating with several other generals, admirals, and a representative of the Fire Lord himself for this year's Fire Nation Day parade," my father answers.

I got excited at hearing that. Fire Nation Day was the day of the Summer Solstice when the power of Fire benders was amplified the greatest. It was also the day ninety-five years ago when Fire Lord Sozin began his campaign to unite the nations. Every year was a spectacle in the capital. Every shop closed except for owners that set up stands along the parade route to peddle their wares and festival foods for citizens to enjoy. There were foods that these stands only made twice a year, that being Fire Nation Day and the current Fire Lord's birthday. The parade usually consisted of parade floats made by citizens of the Fire Nation as well as the military. May saw the military displays as cheap recruitment opportunities, others saw it as being nationalistic. And a few others, a little of both.

But there was something about summer that always kept me in a bipolar state of emotion. I loved the absolute power that I felt this time of year. I felt energized, alert, active. Alive. But at the same time, I felt a sense of depression and loneliness. I never knew why or for what reason. There had been times where I had nightmares of being trapped in a small, dark room with a small door that would not open no matter how much I pounded on it or shouted for help. There had been many times where I woke up screaming only to be comforted by mother. This small room evoked feelings of loneliness and despair. And for some reason, it was the Summer season that brought those feelings to the forefront of my mind. The ironic opposite happened during the Winter Solstice where I felt happy when there weren't any holidays that were widely celebrated (2). It was… odd.

"Wow!" I exclaimed in excitement.

Father chuckled with a small wry grin. "Indeed. And since I'm involved you and your mother will be able to sit in the VIP seats which are much closer to the Fire Lord," he replied.

My eyes widened. Normally, those who had the coin tried to sit as close as they could to the Royal Family, as doing such was a statement of status. Very few were allowed within the VIP seats as they were reserved for special people who the Fire Lord allowed to be near him and his family. This was a great honor that my family was receiving.

"But remember, you can't tell anyone, it's our little secret," he chided, placing a finger to his lips to feign silence. I only nodded enthusiastically in acknowledgment. "Good." The rest of the ride to the palace was uneventful, silent even. When we arrived, the carriage stopped and the door was opened by the driver of our carriage. Standing outside were several royal guards standing at attention in two rows on either side of the carriage. My father looked down to me and whispered, "Remember, be on your best behavior." I nod quickly. "Good. Now, stay close to me and don't wander off." Once more I nod.

We walked with my bodyguard in tow to the main public area of the palace, the area that most people saw when they were summoned. An officer of the Fire Nation walked up to my father and said in the whiniest tone possible, "General, I hope you are aware that children aren't allowed in the meeting."

My father bowed and gestured for me to do the same. "Minister," my father replied respectfully, "of course I know this. My son is of course not allowed in the meeting. As we have an appointment at another event after this, I hope it is no bother that my son and his bodyguard view the royal gardens, so long as he behaves himself?"

The minister seemed to run the question through his mind before he hastily replied, "Of course, if he can behave himself." Father nodded towards me. "Come, or we will be late," the minister said to father before they started to walk off further into the palace.

The doors closed and my bodyguard said to me, "Come, young master. The gardens are this way."

He led me through the open layout of the architecture with a familiarity that one would only see if they had been there before. I filed that away for later. Eventually, to what seemed like forever for me, we arrived at the gardens. My eyes widened in wonder as I saw the beautiful garden. It was meticulously maintained with a sense of passion not seen in many people, something that echoed something familiar in the back of my mind. There were plenty of plants and flowers that I recognized that were in our garden at home, but there were also plants, trees, and flowers that I didn't recognize at all.

I walked closer to one of the flowers and leaned in. I had long learned of the concept of looking but not touching. After all, mother took care of her own small garden that only she touched and no one else was allowed to. Everyone who visited was encouraged to look, but never to touch them; especially since some of the plants were poisonous.

I was completely engrossed by the garden as I didn't hear someone approaching me. "What are _you_ doing here?" a young, haughty girl's voice asked me.

I whipped around to see a girl roughly the same age as me. She has golden-yellow eyes, black hair, and a fair skin tone. The high cheek bones and heart-shaped face implies a higher class standing. It was then I realized her attire. It is meticulously clean and designed using the highest quality fabrics that surpass even the ones that my family wore. Her hair was tied up in a bun-knot which is topped off with a golden headpiece which prominently displays a single lick of flame with a copper-gold color. I immediately knew who this was; this was Fire Lord Ozai's daughter Azula. There had been several rumors about her, although those were at the back of my mind in this moment.

However, my bodyguard was the first to speak. "Your grace, we were just viewing the gardens while my employer, my charge's father, completes a piece of business with your father's representative," he explained.

She studied both of us with scrutiny. "Mind your manners, young lady," an older woman chidingly said from behind the Fire Nation Princess. A woman just as well dressed as the girl who had a boy a few years older than I standing close by her. It was easy to tell by the relation that this girl was her daughter (and the boy her son), therefore this was the wife of the Fire Lord. "All visitors to the palace are allowed to view the garden."

Both my bodyguard and I bowed to the woman. "Thank you, your grace, for your hospitality."

"But of course, beauty such as this shouldn't be hoarded and kept away from everyone who may be able to appreciate it," she commented with a sense of natural regality. She looked at me with a tender gaze and knelt down slightly to slightly lower herself to my height. "And what's your name?" she asked with a gentle smile.

"H-Hari Xiao Long," I reply with a slight stutter, only because this was the most powerful woman in the Fire Nation.

"That's a very nice name. This is my son, Zuko," she gestured to the boy at her side, "and this is my daughter, Azula," she gestured to the girl standing in front of me. "I assume you're enjoying the garden?"

I nod enthusiastically. "It's very beautiful."

She laughed softly. It was like the sound of angels themselves. "I'm glad that you think it is. I had a lot of sway in what got planted."

My bodyguard then spoke up, "Your highnesses, if we're bothering you and your children, we can leave."

She waved a hand at both of us, him primarily. "It is no bother at all. It's good for my children to interact with others their age." Her children looked at her as if she had grown a second head, especially Azula. "What are you waiting for? Interact," she calmly and kindly commanded with a smile.

This certainly got interesting.

XxXxXxX

It was several hours later when my father emerged from the meeting and saw me in the garden interacting with both the crown prince and princess. See: talking. To say that he was surprised would be an understatement. Well, he was more surprised at what he stumbled upon us doing. I was picking off apples set on a very low wall using fire bending, but instead of using katas that many others used when attacking or defending. I stood with my arm outstretched and my hand with the index finger pointed at the apple while my thumb was pointed upward. I shot out a small green colored firebolt from the tip of my index finger and jerked my wrist upward as it left with a verbal 'bang' being said from my lips (3).

The bolt flew straight and true and cored the apple with precision. It toppled off the wall and Azula clapped in amusement. It was then father stated that we needed to leave now in order to keep our reservation at the tea house. I gave my goodbyes, and surprisingly Azula said she'll see me soon. Both father and I were slightly confused at that specific statement.

We entered the carriage and the first few minutes of the ride were deathly silent, like my father was unsure what to really say to me. Finally, he asked, "Did you have a good time?"

"Yes," I meekly replied.

"Did you show off your bending or were you asked to?" father still looked straight ahead.

"No?" I unsurely replied.

"Elaborate," he ordered.

I shuffled uncomfortably. "Well, we were introduced by Lady Ursa and were told to interact with each other so we started talking. We came to the topic of bending and I said that I could. The princess demanded that I show her like she didn't believe me. You showed up just as I finished demonstrating that I can fire bend."

Father sighed, but more out of annoyance than frustration or relief. "It seems as though the princess has taking a liking to you."

"She has?" I ask in confusion.

"Yes, but whether that is a good or bad thing is yet to be seen."

"What do you mean?"

"It's no secret that the Fire Lord favors his daughter much more than his son, despite him being older. If she intends to add you to her inner circle you need to be careful."

"Careful?"

"Yes, when it comes to the royal family, you have to be very careful about who you trust and what you say. It would kill your mother and I if something happened to you because of carelessness."

My head drooped. "I understand."

"I don't know if you do, however, that is something that you must learn. Hopefully, I can help prepare you for the inevitable politics you will be involved in whether you want it or not."

"Thank you, father."

"Anything for you, my son."

The rest of the carriage ride was silent. Outside I can hear other carriages being ridden by the wealthy as well as stall vendors peddling their wares. Once we arrived at the tea house the door to the carriage opened and I saw the visage of my favorite place outside our own home. The tea house was a two-floor building with ornaments that signified its prestige in the community. That being that they had the best quality tea from all around the world. They had tea that they had imported from various kingdoms and nations around the world, either through trade or through independent farmers who worked those specific lands; like in the case of territory conquered by the Fire Nation in the Earth Kingdom. This tea house only served the best tea and only to clientele who were able to pay for it. There were even rumors of them having… other services as long as you had the coin for it. However, that was only rumor and hearsay.

We walked inside the ornamented building which prominently displayed Fire Nation décor like the flag near the entrance as well as busts of past and present Fire Lords as well as wealthy benefactors that were considered patrons, each of these busts with a plaque beneath them describing that. There was even a wall of anonymous benefactors that donated money but did not want to be known as they valued their privacy.

The receptionist stood at a podium-style desk that sat in between two doors that had a piece of cloth covering it. She wore what was considered normal for hostesses, a robe with a sash at the waist that helped accentuate her curves as well a slight exposing of the breasts. Not much, but enough for customers to leave a larger tip than they probably normally would at other establishments.

She bowed to them slightly as if greeting the Fire Lord or members of his family themselves. "Welcome to our establishment, honored guests. Do you have a reservation?" she asked in a polite, pleasant tone.

"We do," father replied. "General Xiao Long plus one."

She looked in the book on her podium. "Ah yes, here you are." She seemed to pause for a moment. "Unfortunately, it seems as though we have overbooked for today. Would it be too much of a bother to share a table with another patron?"

Father looked to me for input. I didn't show any form of disappointment. After all, I did come here for the tea. "That is fine."

She walks towards the door. "Follow me, please." We walked through the tea house to see the more public tables all full with various types ranging from officers to low-level politicians all sharing cups of tea. It wouldn't be surprising if business deals were taking place at this time as well. We entered the second level of the house where all the private suites were. We entered and there was no one at the table. We took a seat and the hostess said, "A server will be with you momentarily to take your orders." And with that, she left.

A few minutes passed and in walked the most unexpected person that even father didn't expect. "General Iroh," father greeted, standing up at attention, "it is an honor to sit at your table."

The older man laughed, "It's former general. And it is always a pleasure to sit with others to have tea." He looked to me and asked, "And what is your name?"

"I'm Hari," I introduced myself.

"Well, greetings Hari and you are both welcome to sit at my table," he replied with a sincere, welcoming smile.

Well, this day just keeps getting more and more interesting.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go. Another pilot down. This one has been sitting on my HHD for a while and it's nice to finally get it done. And before I get started on general notes, I do have a few numbered notes, but not many, to address.**

 **1\. This is a paraphrasing of a journal entry from Thrawn's journal from the novel "Thrawn". It's a good read, I would highly recommend it.**

 **2\. This is the first time that Hari gets slight visions from his past life, that being of his crappy childhood where the summers were filled with general crap, but the winters filled with joy because of Christmas activities with his friends. I guess this gives him a sense of duality. He feels physically powerful, yet mentally weak in the summer, but feels physically weak, but mentally strong in the winter. An interesting thought.**

 **3\. If you want a visual reference, google image search "Spike Cowboy Bebop". Specifically, the pose I'm trying to describe is his finger-gun pose. This once more bringing back memories of Muggle weaponry and how they were used, like Harry would have seen in movies and cartoons (like Cowboy Bebop). Although, this is more from muscle memory rather than an actual memory.**

 **So, what do I intend to accomplish in this fic? Well, I want to explore how interactions with Zuko and Azula have on Hari as well as the reverse. Would this impact the craziness that Azula presents in canon or would she be less crazy than when we see her in the final episodes where she pretty much snaps? (Although, I'm privy to think that was the influence of Sozin's Comet on her as all that power all at once would cause cracks in even the sanest person.) Would Zuko still have his outburst that gets him banished? Probably, but at least maybe it will be a little more logically sound as to why other than just wasted lives. How will Hari interact with Team Avatar as well as how they're trying to destroy the Fire Nation's progress while at the same time trying to stop the war entirely?**

 **All these things and more I have to plan for and explore multiple different options as the role that Harry would play would be more of an anti-hero rather than a straight up hero or villain. After all, Mai is like that as she does let Zuko and friends go at the expense of her own freedom; she is an antagonist, but not a villain like the Fire Lord or Azula are in comparison. I'd have to balance the ideologies that Harry had before his rebirth as well as the loyalties that he now has afterward. All in all, it will be a very interesting time writing this story, should I continue that, that is.**

 **But what do you all think? Was this interesting? Would you want to see this continue? Let me know in the review section down below.**

 **But that's all I have for now, hopefully, I'll see you guys all next installment in whatever I do next.**


	29. A FoZ x Halo (SPARTAN-III Louise) pilot

**Alright, so I have another interesting pilot idea for you.**

 **So, a while back I did a** _ **Stargate: SG-1**_ **/** _ **Familiar of Zero**_ **crossover where Saito was a part of the SGC, creating a brand-new Saito instead of the one that we see in the anime/manga. This time, I wanted to do something unique. Different. What is different? I decided to make Louise a SPARTAN-III who will eventually return to her home after the events of** _ **Halo: Reach**_ **as she will become Noble Six. Unique, right? I thought so.**

 **Rating: K+ - T for this pilot. It may be escalated to M due to disturbing imagery in a full release due to the horrors of the Human-Covenant War that she had to endure.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my laptop and my copy of MS Word.** _ **Halo**_ **belongs to 343i and Microsoft,** _ **Familiar of Zero**_ **belongs to Noboru Yamaguchi and those he licenses it out to. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

XxXxXxX

Two men stood in a room with darkened lighting as they examined the teenage girl in handcuffs sitting across from them. She had somehow managed to pull off the impossible as she managed to infiltrate one of the most highly secure installations on Earth. The pink haired girl managed to appear out of thin air inside of HIGHCOM in Sydney, Australia. The MPs in charge of reviewing the security footage were even more confused as one moment everything was fine, the next there was a bright off-neon green portal for less than a second, during said second the girl in front of them flew out before the portal closed.

Finally, one of the men decided to break the silence. "You don't know how much trouble you are in, do you?" he asked.

"Please state your name for the record," the other asked, his datapad ready to commence the search inside the UNSC and UEG databases for her records.

"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, and I demand to be freed immediately. Don't you know the weight that the Vallière family name carries?" the girl, now named Louise, demanded.

"Jesus, someone has a superiority complex," one of the men said, turning off the translator. "And one hell of a name too. Gives that ancient cartoon name, Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen, a run for its money."

The other man turned the translator back on. "You have absolutely no rights right now, miss." She looked at the man dumbfoundedly. "You trespassed in a secure military facility, every MP on duty had the right to shoot you on sight; luckily you being a child is what saved you today. In fact, you're looking at several felony offenses against both the UNSC and UEG, unless you cooperate that is."

"Felony?" she asked.

"A felony is a crime committed that can blacklist you for life, which is not optimal for someone of your age," the first man replied. "You wouldn't be able to get inside any prestigious university, get a respectable job, it could even cost you the love of your life."

"Playing her like a fiddle," the second man commented with the translator off again. "Also, I can't find a record of her in our systems, however, there is a Louise Vallière who died in one of the early outer colony attacks from the Covenant. Her record has huge amounts of ONI red tape all over it."

"What do you mean?"

"She went missing for a week but was later found by local police at an abandoned warehouse."

"My partner here tells me that you don't exist, or well your name doesn't match the biosigns we have on record," the first replied, turning the translator back on. "So, tell me, what makes someone like you steal a dead girl's name?"

"Dead?!" Louise shrieked. "What do you mean dead?"

The second man allowed his device to project a translucent image for the girl to see. "Meet the original Louise Vallière, born May 10, 2517, and died May 9, 2532 at the age of fifteen when the Covenant glassed the colony world of Vodin."

Louise leaned forward and saw the image of the girl who had her name. She instantly noticed that the girl looked drastically different from her. Like for example she had her hair tied up in a bun, the color of said hair was a chestnut brown, Louise, on the other hand, wore her pink hair long. The other key difference is that she looked to be of the same descent of that castle maid Siesta came from. "That girl stole my name!"

"How can the dead steal the names of the living when the dead have been gone for almost a decade?" the second man asked. "Seriously, if you can give me a damn good answer that'd be the second most interesting thing I've heard today."

Louise sat in silence. "I can't think of anything."

"Why don't you tell me how you got here? As we are at a loss at how localized Slipstream space travel can transport a single person without either ripping them to shreds or them getting lost in another dimension," the first man chimed in.

"I don't know," she simply replied.

"Tell us what you DO know."

She took a deep breath before taking her story. "I am the youngest daughter of the Vallière family. In our second year of the Tristian Magical Academy, we summon a familiar, a magical servant from another far away place that will obey our every order until one of us dies. There is a ritual that is performed in which we call upon our familiar to come to us, and for everyone before me, they did," she explained.

"But for you?"

She looked sad and pensive. "Nothing. I tried and tried, but nothing would happen. I asked if I could try again, amidst my classmates' jeering at me being worthless, while my teacher said I couldn't I ignored him and redid the spell. I must've mumbled a word of the incantation because the next thing I knew I was surrounded by your soldiers."

Both men sat silently as they went over their notes. "Just to confirm, what you said, when you say magic do you mean a force which is beyond your understanding or literal, honest to God hocus pocus?" the first man asked.

"Magic is real."

"Ok, then how do you perform it?"

She started patting down her body looking for something. "I would show you, but I need my focus."

"As in a wand or staff or something else of that nature?" the second man asked. The first looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What? I read a lot of fantasy books when I was a kid."

He turned off the translator once more. "Do we risk it?" he asked.

The second shrugged. "She would be hard pressed to get out of an ONI black site, especially since we're not even on a planet right now," the first answered.

"And if she DOES manage to get free?"

"What do you think the MPs are here for?"

The first man turned on the translator back on. "Very well. But be aware that any motions of escape will be met with deadly force," the first man warned. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a sealed bag that contained Louise's wand. He removed it from the bag and set it in front of her.

She took it carefully in her cuffed hands which were still shackled to the desk and incanted something that the translator didn't pick up. Apparently, it didn't have the effect she wanted as there was a small explosion. However, it was no bigger than one made by a cherry bomb.

"What was that?" the second asked as he coughed, his hands waving the smoke away.

"That was supposed to be a light orb spell," she admitted.

"But you ended up creating an explosion?" the first added as he took the wand away from her and placed it back inside the bag before placing it back into the pockets of his jacket.

"Yes," she answered.

The first turned off the translator once more. "This is interesting," he admitted. "ONI would love to get their hands on her if she can spawn explosions out of nowhere."

"Indeed," the second agreed. "We even strip searched her to ensure she didn't have any weapons or other equipment on her. She's clean."

"Maybe we should contact Halsey? She is always looking for more… specimens to improve her SPARTANs."

"We should leave her fate up to HIGHCOM, after all, we're just peons lower on the ladder than we really think we are."

The first sweatdropped, "Wow, you really have self-esteem issues, don't you?" He turned the translator back on. "Unfortunately, sweetheart, we don't get to decide what happens to you. That's up to our bosses to decide on." She seemed to wilt. "I wouldn't worry that much. I wouldn't be surprised if within the next few hours someone appears to make you an… offer of sorts."

"An offer?" she asked.

"I don't know what it'll be as neither of us have that kind of clearance."

She started to plead with them to remove the cuffs, but they ignored her as they stood up and walked out of the interrogation room, the door closing and sealing behind them. An hour later a man walked into the room wearing a uniform much different than the one the two men wore, by this time Louise had given up hope of escape.

He sat down and said, "Hello there, my name is Kurt Ackerman and I have a proposition for you."

XxXxXxX

 _A different time, a different place._

Things in Halkgenia weren't great, especially for the Vallière family. This was especially so as they had lost her during the traditional, yearly ritual where students summon a familiar who will serve them as long as they live. Instead of summoning a familiar like was supposed to happen, nothing did. Then she tried in again in absolute desperation but instead of a familiar being summoned to her, she was pulled through the anomaly that a familiar would emerge from. Ever since then, she was never seen again. This was a year ago.

Things in the world of politics had drastically changed for the worst in most cases. Queen Henrietta had gone into a deep depression at the loss of her best friend. The Albion prince that Louise was engaged to had disengaged the arranged marriage and had married another shortly before his assassination. The Cromwell rebellion had been contained to Albion, but rumors from Tristian spies were that Cromwell was going to soon spring on neighboring nations. However, the question was not if, but when.

Two sisters stood on the sacred grounds of the Tristian Magical Academy. There was a reason they were there instead of any other place. The ground on which the school was built upon was an intersection of ley lines. This made it the perfect place for their operation.

"Sister, are you sure this will work?" Cattleya asked her elder sister, uncertain as could be.

Éléonore looked up from her work on the complex magical circle which she had just finished drawing into the ground. "I am as sure as Brimir is our founder," she replied.

"How do you know?"

"I feel in every bone in my body that our sister is still out there. That's all I need to attempt this."

"And if it fails?"

There was a pause, "It won't."

Éléonore stepped to the edge of the circle, drew her wand, and started to incant in a language thought to be long gone and dead. The only word that Cattleya caught was the word 'Brimir' in the entire string. The magical circle started to glow. At first, it was low level, but as Éléonore continued her string of words, it got brighter and brighter until it got to the point where it was as bright as the sun itself; so much so they both had to close their eyes else they get blinded. Éléonore had to focus on her chanting, but Cattleya could have sworn she heard what sounded like thousands of guns being fired as well as some other thing, and many, many explosions. This strange light and the sounds drew many students that were once attending classes outside. They gathered around the two sisters in a circle but stood far enough away to see what was going on.

Finally, there was an explosion of light and energy that expanded outward, throwing both Éléonore and Cattleya back a few feet and knocking down students that didn't see the energy wave coming. They got to their feet and looked on the site of the former magical circle. What they saw shocked and amazed them. In the center of the circle was a dirty, prone body of what seemed to be a knight in gray armor that had never been seen before; except that this knight was a girl. But just not any girl.

"Louise!" Éléonore shouted in happiness as she scrambled to her younger sister's side. She looked on to her sister and saw that she looked older, much older than she should be as she had been gone for a year. She looked battered as if she had fought for hours on end with no respite. There were cuts and burns on her face that she would have never had before she disappeared, even if she did have explosive accidents when practicing magic. Then there was the armor. It was far different than any knight's armor and much heavier; heavy to the point it looked impractical to use. There was a single gun next to her prone body that was the color of highly polished silver and looked nothing like the muskets that Queen Henrietta's guard used. It was different, more advanced even. The armor itself was scarred and pitted, in parts, the metal looked like it had been melted away. Louise's hair was no longer long like pink waterfalls but a cropped pixie-like cut that girls her age would have never gone for. "What happened to you?" she whispered.

Louise's eyes started to move behind her eyelids and began to murmur incoherent nonsense in a language that none of them recognized. "We need to get her to an infirmary," Cattleya stated, bringing Éléonore out of whatever funk she was in.

"Right," Éléonore agreed.

It took a lot of effort from multiple mages using levitation spells, but they were finally able to move Louise indoors. Meanwhile, the students looked on in confusion asking themselves, "Is that the Zero?"

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **Alright, another one knocked out. No numbered notes this time around.**

 **So, you might be asking yourselves how I was able to crank this one out so quickly considering that I just published that HP/ATLA crossover idea a few days ago. Part of this is because the original document that this is written in was created way back in 2015 and I just had an idea that involved the** _ **Familiar of Zero**_ **anime once more and I remembered that I had this one partially written and I wanted to get this one done before I worked on that one. Well, worked on beyond the concept document (the opening statement of the idea so I can return to it later and know what I was wanting to do with it in the first place).**

 **So, what do I want to accomplish with this fic? Well, I want a post-Reach Louise (as she is Noble Six in this fanfic universe scenario) to try and come to terms with coming back to Halkgenia after spending years in the future and in the UNSC, a society that while militarized is so fundamentally different that it clashes on so many levels. I want her to have flashbacks to those times in the UNSC and show how those experiences impacted her as a character. This type of story would take a long time to create due to the fact that I would have to plan for it all.**

 **Will Saito be making an appearance? I don't know. Maybe I'll pull what I did in the FoZ/SG-1 pilot I did where Saito is a fellow soldier that tries to hunt her down (not in the Locke vs. Chief way, but just finding her). Who knows? This is just an idea that I had and I have plenty of time to think of a scenario where that just might work.**

 **But that's all I have for now. Your thoughts on this one? Was it good, bad, or just interesting? Let me know down in the review section below, I do read all of them (no, really. They end up in my email inbox). Do remember to follow this story if you want to see more ideas from this little brain of mine and favorite it to let me know that you guys love what I'm doing in these even if the properties aren't all your favorites.**

 **But until next time, hopefully, I'll see you all again then.**


	30. A Cyberpunk Naruto pilot

**So, while reading a few stories and bringing on several shows and games as of late I had a story pop into my head and so far, I have yet to see anything like it on this site so I thought I'd give it a shot and go for it. So, what is this? Well, this story is a fusion of ideas primarily set in the _Naruto_ -verse with elements of _Ghost in the Shell_ , _Sword Art Online_ , and _Deus Ex: Human Revolution_ and the philosophy of transhumanism. So, this is not a true crossover but takes elements and different technologies that exist in all of them into this story. Please leave some reviews, constructive criticism only please, flaming or haters will be ignored.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing. I do not own _Naruto_ as it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Viz Media. I do not own any elements or technologies taken from _Ghost in the Shell_ , _Sword Art Online_ , or _Deus Ex: Human Revolution_ ; they belong to their respective owners. All I own is any unrecognizable characters, plotlines/scenarios, and the computer on which I am writing this on. This is a not for profit fictional story, please do not repost on another site without my permission or copy and paste it and claim it as your own (as there are those people out there). See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

 **XxXxXxX**

 _Chapter 1: Pilot – This is the World We Live In_

One hundred years ago the Third World War broke out. Nations defended and attacked each other relentlessly. Entire cities were eradicated through the use of chemical, biological, and nuclear weaponry. After five years of fighting a ceasefire was made. The dead were buried and their loved ones mourned their losses. Countries redrew their borders and rewrote policies. A new set of countries that came out of this travesty was the Elemental Countries, a chunk of land which composed of a mass majority of Southeastern Asia as well as a large part of the easternmost portion of Russia as well as other countries. The larger of these countries formed a loose coalition known as the Elemental Countries Fair Trade Agreement.

These nations inside of the Elemental Nations are ruled by a joint committee of military and civilian elected officials that help flesh out laws that affect both internal and international affairs. While there is an elected Prime Minister, or Daimyo, for each country that has their own military that is sourced from the nation from volunteers, there also exist Private Military Contractors, or PMC's, that help with national security… for a price.

One good thing that came out of the Third World War was the evolution of cyberspace. At one point, one had to use a terminal like a laptop or desktop computer in order to access the net, now one from birth gets an implant that allows a person's consciousness to enter the digital realm. One can still manually manipulate computers like they did in years prior, but the new standard is to use the neural-link. Like the internet of the 21st century the internet of the 23rd century there are sites where people congregate to find like-minded people like themselves like the ancient Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit behind usernames and pictures that may be outdated or misleading. Now all members of social circles are represented by a member's mind as avatars. Now, these can range from what a person is wearing that day with little changes to their appearance to full on cosplay, it really is up to the imagination of the person creating the avatar.

In order to save on both costs to travel and to better the environment, businessmen and women use the internet and their avatars to conduct business from stock exchanges and business deals to your average run of the mill meetings. Obviously there the original reasons that the internet was created, cats and porn, but one of the lucrative markets since the creation of the Oculus Rift has been the virtual reality game industry. With the evolution from VR goggles to neural links included with the goggles allowed the wearers to immerse themselves fully into whatever world they wished. With implantable neural chips they merely cut out the middle man and allowed the user to link up to the net without anything more than one cable attached to the back of the neck, or in the case of the richer and well off, they could connect wirelessly.

Now with the evolution of cyberspace and the ways to enter it, the prosthetic industry has advanced to the point at which one can't even tell if an amputee who is wearing a prosthetic is actually wearing one without them removing it in front of someone. Retinal display implants are quite common to remedy both short and near sightedness as well to have a personal heads up display that can display anything from an augmented reality map to who is calling you. Torpor, or therapeutic hypothermia, has evolved to allow a patient that has received a massive amount of trauma to be saved, or if necessary give them the time needed to receive either transplants or prosthetics. There are small colonies on the moon as well as a small research colony on Mars which constantly provide data and research on how humans can explore the vast universe further.

This is the world in which this story takes place. We follow a young man named Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki. He, like many others before him, have their roles to play in life. What role is that? Well, that would be telling, now wouldn't it?

XxXxXxX

 _Eleven years ago…_

Five-year-old Naruto was ecstatic at what he got to do today, he was on his way to his father's company for the annual 'Bring your child to work day' that the company sponsored. Normally his father would bring him in and let him see the things that his father would be working on. But never officially, as it was against company policy to let anyone outside of the company see classified projects or files. But today the company would allow children of their employees to see what their parents did, everything from programming to manufacturing to sales. There would be a short tour that would show off the facility to the children, followed up by a bunch of stations that the children could then try their skills at if they wanted to, then lunch, and then they would spend the remainder of the day with their parents seeing how they worked.

What is this company? Well, it is Konoha Industries, a PMC with subsidiaries inside of many other fields including biomedical as well as electronics and gaming. And currently, Naruto's father is the current CEO of the company. This would explain why security was heightened as well as Naruto's bodyguard Yuugito was more on edge than usual. But that wasn't right, she was never on edge, or at least she never showed it, but today she was definitely showing that she was on edge.

"Ehh, nee-chan why are you so jumpy?" Naruto asked as she jumped slightly as he touched her sleeve.

The young woman beside him dressed in a black suit and red tie that the company provided her with looked back to him and with a false smile said, "Nothing Naru-chan." Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses that also acted as augmented reality glasses.

"Grr, why do you keep calling me that?" he huffed with his arms crossed. Yuugito just smiled at his antics. She had come into his life close to a year ago when the lady of the house, Kushina, said that she was pregnant again and wouldn't be able to protect her 'Naru-chan' in public and they hired her to do so in his mother's place.

Minato Namikaze was also the overprotective type. He hired the best marksman out of the academy for all weaponry which included everything from throwing knives to high powered sniper rifles. He also made sure that the applicant was able to effectively identify a specific martial art and counter it to neutralize an attacker. Said applicant was Yuugito who came straight from the PMC's Academy with top marks in everything Minato was looking for. Naruto was shy around her the first time they met, but after a month they had a younger brother-older sister relationship.

The school bus pulled into the employee garage and let the students out. Many of the students had parents that worked at the company such as the Yamanaka and Nara families. They walk to an entrance which is flanked by two guards armed with batons, Tasers, and handguns. One turned around and swiped a keycard and the doors opened to a lobby and a beautiful one at that. The blonde-haired receptionist had two screens up with various appointments and was flicking through them as fast as one's eyes could move. On the back of her neck was one of the wireless transmitters that connected her computer to her neural network. Images and appointments continued to flash and disappear on screen as the group approached the front desk.

"Excuse me," Naruto's teacher said, making the receptionist looked up, yet her work continued. "We're here for the 'Bring your child to work day'."

"One moment," she said before pausing. A small green phone icon appeared in the top corner of her screen for a minute before turning red and disappearing. "Our representative will be down shortly."

The group stood around for five minutes before the doors of an elevator opened and out walked a red haired upper twenties woman that looked to be in her eighth month of pregnancy. In her hands is a tablet. "Hello everyone and welcome to Konoha Industries-," she trailed as she looked over the crowd and saw a familiar spiky red-haired child. "Hi Naru-chan!" she waved childishly. Naruto hid behind his bodyguard in embarrassment as the rest of his class chuckled at his 'misfortune'.

"Must be the pregnancy hormones," Yuugito muttered to Naruto.

"What are hormones?" Naruto asked.

Yuugito looked around realizing that he didn't even know what those even are. "Your parents will explain them to you when you get older."

The tour went along as the children viewed several different departments in the building. First up was the biomedical ward where there was a person wearing a prototype limb and was testing it out conveniently as the children looked in. Next up was the experimental weapons wing where there was a man testing out a new anti-personnel explosive dispersal unit called Typhoon. They even went to the part of the building that was dedicated to the Academy, the school that would teach would be initiates to the company the skills they would need to be part of the mercenary forces that both protected the company and the nation. Finally, they arrived at the final department that was acquired when Konoha Industries bought out Uzu Productions through the marriage of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze; this department was the company's video game production which kept its name of Uzu Productions.

"And here we have Uzu Productions, our video game division. How many of you have heard of our previous title _Ages of War_?" Kushina asked. Several children slowly raised their hands while Naruto's shot up, after all it was his parents' company that made it. "I hope that it was your siblings that play it," she said slyly with a smile. "Well regardless some of your parents in there are hard at work at our newest venture _Age of Shinobi_ , a game in which you can take on the role of a ninja mercenary and take on missions and your objective is to be the most powerful shinobi or kunoichi that you can be. Now, who's excited about it?" Many hands shot up, including Naruto's. "Well you'll have to wait a bit longer; the game has just entered pre-Alpha so we have a bit to go before we're ready to debut to the public." They walked back to the main lobby where several people were waiting for them with signs that had different departments written on them. "Before you are the department heads of where your parents work, please head on over to the proper department head and they'll bring you to your parents."

They paired off until only Naruto and Yuugito remained. "This way, Naru-chan. Your father is waiting for you in his office," Kushina said.

They entered an elevator which took them to the CEO's office. There behind Minato's personal receptionist's desk were two pink haired women, one Naruto's age and one that was her mother, the mother was showing her daughter how to manage different programs she used on a daily basis. Naruto entered his father's office with his mother where they saw him working on lines of code. He noticed the door opening and stood up to greet them.

"So, fishcake, did you enjoy the tour?" Minato asked as he teased his son.

"Tou-saaaaan," Naruto complained. "My name means Maelstrom, not fishcake."

"Indeed, it does. Why don't you come over here, I have something to show you." Minato led his son over to his desk. It was one of the fancy executive smart desks that had not only a touch screen on the entire table top but also projectors to allow the user to multitask. Minato tapped a few commands on his desk and up from the floor rose a cylinder around a foot in diameter until it stopped just below Naruto's chin.

"What is it, tou-san?" Naruto asked befuddled.

"This, my son, is my corporate legacy," Minato replied as the holotank lit up, a chip on the side lighting up blue as well. "Naruto, say hello to the Juubi-class AI 'Shinju'." The character that appeared was a young woman in a pure white kimono. She had black hair, an ample bust, and shapely hips and rear. Every man's ideal image of a woman. She also had a pair of white fox ears as well as ten bushy tails behind 'her'. "Good afternoon, Shinju-chan."

She bowed her head slightly. "Good afternoon, Namikaze-sama," she replied politely.

"Naruto, say hello to Shinju-chan," he said with a smile.

"Ano… Hello Shinju-san," Naruto shyly said.

"Well aren't you adorable, son of my creator?" she replied.

"Well Naruto, it seems as though she has taken a liking to you," his father commented. "She is the only one of her class," Minato said proudly. "She was completely based off of human neural pathways in the brain. Using memories of some of the greatest people of the last century she is empathetic towards humans."

"What does that mean, tou-san?" Naruto asked.

"Meaning she thinks like we do. She is the first TRUE artificial intelligence. Fully cognitive of her situation and surroundings. She truly is one of a kind."

"You flatter me, Namikaze-sama," the AI replied. "If I were organic one would think you were flirting with me," she quipped playfully.

An alarm sounded and Minato raised his wrist up. "It appears it's time for my meeting with the European Robotics Conglomerate's representatives. Please feel free to stay and chat," Minato said leaving the office.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **So, I can see it already, you guys asking why this stopped so abruptly. Well, the reason is that I started this back in March of 2015 and I recently rediscovered it on my laptop's HHD, like I did with several other story docs that I started but never finished. I lost the original story notes for this and have no idea where I was going with this, hence why it just ends like that; and why the intro's disclaimer is so long as I never re-edited it.**

 **Luckily there are no notes this time around. However, I believe that I do remember the vision that I had for this story when I was coming up with it. I wanted to take** _ **Naruto**_ **into the 21** **st** **century with all the tech and things that we enjoy with none of the godlike powers that is Chakra. Oh, it still would have made an appearance, but it would never have taken the show in this idea.**

 **The reason I even wanted to attempt this idea was that I saw a few modern-day Naruto stories that were quite interesting as well as a single sci-fi one that this was inspired by which seems to have disappeared from the site altogether; which is too bad in my opinion.**

 **But that's all I have for this time around as I'm just archiving an old story idea for possible later use. Let me know what you thought about the idea itself and if you'd like to see this possibility in the future more cleanly planned out like some of my other pilot ideas.**

 **Until next time!**


	31. A HP x Overwatch (member) pilot

**Alright, so I'm going through my Hard Drive looking for older stories that I started but never finished; you know the kind. You have an idea and you start to write it down but you hit a writer's block. You save what you got but you abandon it for later and come back to it later, or at least you intend to. So, what's the story behind this one? Well, do you remember that** _ **Force Unleashed**_ **/** _ **Overwatch**_ **story pilot I did that involved Starkiller basically being transported to the Earth in Overwatch after death so he could have a new lease on life? Well, I created two more Overwatch crossover pilot files, one of which being another** _ **Star Wars**_ **crossover but with a different character, and the second being a** _ **Harry Potter**_ **one; as you might have read the header, this one is the latter one.**

 **So, what is this going to be all about? I can hear you all salivating for. I think. Drunk Phil is writing this intro here. Well, originally, I was thinking of an adoption tale where X Overwatch character, like Mercy, adopts Harry and raises him. But then I thought that had been done to death in many other various titles including games and anime. So, I started to think of something else. Then it hit me. As you guys all know, I'm a connoisseur of fanfics on this site and I read a lot of them, my favorites list is only a fraction of what I'm actually following. One of the more interesting titles I've come across is called "Heroes Assemble!" by Stargon1 (** id: 12307781 **).**

 **In an over simplified summary of said mentioned story Harry moves on after Hogwarts and starts a new life in NYC roughly around the time that** _ **Iron Man**_ **takes place in the MCU. Basically, this HP-verse happens to also be inside the MCU. In this fic, he becomes a vigilante who fights with magic. Again, this is an extreme over simplification of the story and I do recommend reading it, it's quite an interesting take on the HP/Avengers crossover fic. Two thumbs up.**

 **So where am I going with this? I thought, why not make Harry a magic using vigilante in the Overwatch universe Post-Hogwarts and gets recruited by Overwatch as Overwatch is starting to reform once more, defying the Petras Act. And thus, this pilot was born.**

 **Rating: T+ for the pilot, unknown if it will remain T+ or escalate to M if a full story is made.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word.** _ **Harry Potter**_ **still belongs to JK Rowling and** _ **Overwatch**_ **belongs to Blizzard. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

XxXxXxX

 _London, 2076._

Harry James Potter. Man. Myth. Legend. Vagabond. These titles were some that the waning magical community gave the man that once saved the entire world from magical Hitler, whether they knew it or not. Harry was once born in the year 1980, something that he looked on as a time long past, especially as it was 2076. He was ninety-six years old yet still looked and felt like someone in his late teens. Oh, it wasn't something inherent to magic, no, it was something else. Wizards and witches lived much longer lives and magic allows them to keep their physical appearance a lot longer than Muggles would normally without any intervention, allowing for children to be born later in life; like his father was for his grandparents. After many long years of theorizing and speculation, Harry had concluded that with the uniting of the three Deathly Hallows he had become immortal, as he had discovered when he had been splattered by an out of control lorry. He winced in remembrance as regrowing all the decimated bones and muscles and then snapping them into place was sickeningly annoying to deal with. He had ever been shot right in the head once in a botched mugging; he was out for an hour and woke up fully healed in a morgue. He gave the poor old man who was doing an autopsy quite a fright. That was awkward on so many levels for him.

Harry took a drink from the glass of Jack Daniels on the rocks and sighed as he thought about the waning magical world. It was bound to happen. Hermione theorized well over seventy years ago that if new blood wasn't brought in then magic would die out through Squibs. This caused some of the more 'liberal' magical families to start introducing more muggleborn wives or husbands into their families to expand their gene-pool. It worked, for a time that is. The generation that followed his put of Hogwarts was one of the largest in the last century and there was hope that this trend would continue. But it would not. And it would all be because of a little invention called the Internet.

The more the younger generation became connected the fewer students came to Hogwarts as what young person wanted to spend nine months in a dusty, dingy old castle when they could go to day school and spend as much time as they wanted on social media and the like. Why spend nine months of your year in one of the remote places in Britain with little contact with the outside world, forced to keep a secret that you can only tell your immediate family (that being parents and siblings) when you could just not do that? When you could just watch your favorite content providers for hours on end with even more creators that are suggested to you based on what you already watch?

The more the years passed, the fewer muggleborn and half-blooded children came to Hogwarts until all that remained was the massively small pureblood community. Slowly but surely even the pureblood children stopped coming as well. The following year had the smallest class since the school's founding, totaling at five total students. The following year, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry closed its doors for good. Some of the international schools had weathered the storm better, giving options to potential students like day school teaching which would allow them to still remain in contact with their muggle friends and family on a daily basis instead of distancing themselves from them because of school. The only reason that Beauxbatons was still open was because of the sizable French Veela population, a population that Bill and Fleur contributed many children towards, as well as Gabrielle and her husband. Out of all the magical schools, Mahoraho in Japan had seen this trend coming for a long time and had adapted appropriately, giving them one of the largest, consistent student populations in the world.

However, the same could not be said for Britain; despite its long magical history and importance, it was like it was to the muggles who told fantasy tales: just a legend. Harry took another drink and sighed, "What a shame."

"What're you talking about?" the bartender asked as he polished a pint glass.

"Nothing," Harry replied as he swished the whiskey around in his glass. The ice clinking against the side. "Just thinking about current events."

The bartender seemed to know what he was talking about. "Ah. I know the feeling. First, the Shambali is killed right across the square from here; next, there's a second Omnic uprising in Russia? Troubling times, mate. Troubling times."

"Don't I know it," Harry muttered before downing the rest of his glass. "Hey, how much to top off my flask?"

The bartender gave him a none-too-pleased look. "According to the law, I'm not supposed to do that."

Harry pulled out a fifty-pound note and slid it across the bar, but kept his hand on it. "The law doesn't need to know."

The bartender thought long and hard. On one hand, this man was trying to bribe him, but on the other hand, he would get fifty pounds to do whatever he wishes with it. He snatched the note and slipped it into his pocket as quickly as he could move. "I suppose I can do it just this once," he casually said. "So, more whiskey?"

Five minutes later, Harry walked out on the streets of London with a full flask. He walked through the somewhat crowded streets, weaving through the crowd as if he were some kind of ship captain navigating treacherous waters. Eventually, he made his way to the entrance of a long-closed metro entrance. The entrance, if it were just closed for maintenance, would have been cordoned off with a metal fence; but instead, this one was sealed off with a statue and a plaque listing around a hundred names as well as a day listed at the top of the plaque. Harry reached inside his jacket and pulled out three shot glasses and set them on the statue's base; he then filled each of the glasses to the brim. Then he whispered a single, " _Incendio_ ," and the shots were lit on fire like a liquor fueled candle.

The three small licks of Fire barely lit up his face. For all intents and purposes, he was still shrouded in darkness. Harry once more glanced at the date on the plaque, that being today fifty years ago. He took the flask and took a large swig from it. "Well, at least I still remember you," he said in fondness. All next to each other were three names, all with the last name of Potter. He stiffened up as he felt eyes on him. "You're either extremely confident or massively stupid for trying to sneak up on me," he declared loud enough that people behind could hear him. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"We only want to talk," a woman replied, her accent definitely not British. But it was either French or Swiss if he were to make a blind guess.

"Can it wait? I'm having a moment here."

"We're well aware of that. We're sorry for your loss," she said with sincerity. "Unfortunately, no, it cannot wait."

"Oh?"

"There's a plot in motion to assassinate you," a second woman cried out, this time another Brit.

"Oh? And who would that be?" he asked as he turned around.

As he had suspected, there were two women standing around five yards away from him. There was a bit of an age difference between the two women. The younger of the two looked to be in her twenties, mid to late and had black hair cut relatively short. She wore normal, inconspicuous attire except for one thing that stood out, around her chest was a blue glowing device. There was something about her that felt off. She gave off the aura of both being there and not all at the same time; it was like she was some sort of paradoxical event. It was like she was giving off the same kind of energy feel that someone felt near a Time Turner. The woman next to her was older. Physically, he would guess maybe in her thirties, late thirties tops; but something about her eyes told him that she was much older. By how much, he didn't know. She had longer golden blonde hair held in a ponytail and had the facial features of someone who was of Swiss descent (as well of fair hair and skin). The accent made much more sense now, some of the inflections that she made sounded French whereas others more German. Which made sense, the three countries all bordered each other and were neighbors; of course, certain things would cross over as trade and marriage happened over the centuries.

"Talon," the younger of the two replied.

"The terror organization?" Harry asked which shocked the two.

"You've heard of them?" the blonde asked.

Harry shrugged, "You keep your ear to the ground and you're bound to hear things. Like how a certain organization is starting to rebuild itself."

"How did-?" the younger asked right as an explosion came from Harry's head, blood and viscera flying everywhere covering the two women. "Sniper!" she shouted as the two ducked behind the statue. "Damn it! We were too late!" she cursed as her eyes flickered to the limp body in the square.

Shots continued to pot-mark the ground around them. The two then heard one of the most grotesque sounds that they had ever heard. It sounded like wet flesh crawling on the ground. The sniper shots stopped coming as whomever it was that was firing on them saw what they were hearing. The younger woman looked out to see the flesh, blood, and bone that had been thrown about by the sniper slowly making its way towards Harry's head. It was disgustingly fascinating as bone fused back together and flesh mended itself. When it was done, it was like nothing had ever happened. The only proof that it had even happened was the blood-soaked clothing on both the women and Harry.

Harry then sat up with his hands behind him, bracing him as he did. "Ugh, what hit me?" he groaned. "This feels worse than the time I went on that tequila bender in Baja." He turned to the two women who were looking at him with their jaws figuratively on the ground. "Hey, what'd I miss?"

The blonde could only stutter wide-eyed in confusion, "B-b-b-b-but you were dead."

Harry looked around and saw some of his splattered blood from earlier. "Eh, it wouldn't be the first time I've been dead," he shrugged it off as if it wasn't the first time this specific thing happened to him, which it wasn't. The women felt the hairs on the backs of their necks stand on end. There was another cracking sound of a gunshot. But before any of them could move, the slowly spinning rifle round inches away from Harry's outstretched hand. It was like the bullet was in slow motion. "You know, being shot is not pleasant," Harry shouted out towards where the bullet came from. "It would be nice not to be shot." He was answered by eleven more rounds. Each round would come from their hidden shooter's alcove. But the air would ripple a few feet like something hitting water and each of the eleven bullets would stop a few inches from in front of his hand but would all still be spinning slowly. Harry then sighed, "I guess asking nicely isn't going to solve this."

Both women stood there agape. There wasn't a single piece of technology that could be seen. The only thing that they could think of that could stop bullets that quickly was Reinhardt's shield, but this was different. The bullets were still moving but they weren't moving forward, they were just spinning slowly. It was like they were holding there in place.

Harry sighed, but more in annoyance more than anything else. He snapped the fingers on his free hand and the bullets fell to the ground, the copper jacketed rounds clinking on the pavement as he lowered his arm. They then started to shake and vibrate. The copper, full metal jacket rounds then started to deform. The metal moved like a liquid and changed shape and grew from little 7.62mm rounds to copper wolves. What surprised the women more was that these copper wolves moved and breathed like real animals, they even growled like wolves.

There was no sound except for the sounds of growling coming from copper, metal wolves. The sniper, whomever they may be, didn't take another shot out of confusion. Then came a single order, "Hunt."

The wolves snapped to the direction that the shots came from and started running towards the shooter's location, all the while snarling like wolves would. Not a single minute later there was screaming of the blood-curdling variety that came from a man. That told the younger of the two women it wasn't the same assailant that killed the Shambali months earlier.

"So, you know who I am," Harry spoke up in an attempt to distract them from the screams, "who are you?"

"Angela Zeigler," the Swiss uneasily introduced herself.

"Uhh, Lena Oxton," the younger Brit introduced herself nervously. The screaming had stopped.

"So, what did you want with me again?" Harry asked. There was paddling of the metallic variety and one of the copper wolves walked on up to Harry like a trained dog and dropped a patch at his feet. He squatted down, picked it up, and looked it over. He then showed it to the two women, "This belongs to your Talon buddies?" They didn't say a word but nodded like characters caught in an odd situation in a manga or anime would. Harry then turned to the wolf and started petting it like a dog. "Good boy!" he cooed like he would with a puppy. Lena and Angela blanched at that, it was just TOO odd. He then snapped his fingers and the copper wolf morphed back into a 7.62mm bullet that clattered to the ground. "Anyway, back to my original question, what do you want with me?"

"H-how did-?" Lena stuttered.

Harry waved her off, "Matter manipulation. Small stuff. Now, the reason you wanted to talk with me?"

"We, uh, wanted to ask you if you wanted to join Overwatch?" Lena asked uncertainly.

"Despite the fact that it's against international law?" Harry said with a raised eyebrow.

"If you'd just come with us to Gibraltar and hear our current leader out-," Angela said before Harry cut her off.

"You mean the old place? I know where it is," he waved nonchalantly. "If it REALLY means that much to you, I'll meet you there."

"It would be safer if-," Lena started to say, but before she could finish her sentence Harry disappeared with a soft bang, "-we went together," she finished. "What just happened?" She looked to Angela who looked pensive. "You know something, don't you?" Lena accused her colleague.

Angela paused and thought over her words carefully. "I had a suspicion of who he is, but… it's impossible. The man I'm thinking of should be MUCH older than the young man we saw," she replied.

"Perhaps he's his son?"

"Unlikely. But it's also unlikely that this is also the same person."

"You're not making any sense."

"I know I'm not, but..."

"Maybe we'll learn what's going on in Gibraltar?"

The two women started to walk away but felt like there were eyes watching them. As they were being watched by the very person they were talking about on a rooftop outside of their field of view. He looked down at the bound and gagged Talon agent and knelt down so that they looked each other in the eye. "Now, I believe you're going to tell me how you found out about me," Harry said. The man mumbled something through the gag that sounded something similar to 'I won't tell you a thing'. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong," Harry said ominously. "You see, you don't need to say a single word," he made sure to slowly emphasize the last two words as he flicked his wrist to summon his hidden wand, the Elder Wand. He pointed it at the center of the man's forehead, stared deeply into his eyes and said, " _Legilimens_."

The agent seized up and screaming started to come from the man's gagged mouth. A few, very long, minutes later the screaming stopped and a brain-dead terrorist slumped to the ground. "Well, this is interesting," Harry commented to no one before apparating away.

XxXxXxX

 _Watchpoint Gibraltar. The next day._

Harry appeared with a soft popping sound near the entrance of the old Overwatch base which had, until recently, been abandoned outside of a small Omnic maintenance crew who did little more than keeping the property from becoming an eyesore to those who looked at it. Harry though, he didn't apparate outside the gate, no, he apparated inside the base itself, causing quite a stir as alarms went off. Soon enough various… characters appeared to confront him.

A knight in power armor with a rocket propelled hammer, a young Korean woman (the MEKA emblem gave it away) in one of those mechs he had heard about, a cowboy with a cigar, a dwarf with a robotic claw and eye patch, Angela, Lena, and a gorilla. The gorilla was the one that surprised him the most, primarily because it shouted orders as they all rushed him.

"Well, this is quite the welcome wagon," Harry commented. "I feel as though I should have brought something. Coleslaw maybe? Nah, beer. Beer is always the answer."

"What's with the getup?" the cowboy asked, his hand on his revolver.

"Getup? Have you never seen _Blade Runner_?" That got him nothing. "Oh, come on! Classic 80's movie starring Harrison Ford? Classified as a sci-fi cult classic in the realm of cyberpunk?" Once more, more blank stares. "Uncultured, that's what you are. Not knowing the classics," Harry scoffed in the same way that Draco had once done so many times to him years ago. "Being uncultured aside, do you want to take this to a conference room or something? I mean, you did want me to come all this way."

There was a moment of silence before the gorilla spoke, "Uh, I think that would be best, this way." They started to walk towards the main structure, Harry and the gorilla at the front of the pack. "I'm Winston, by the way," he greeted. "Your arrival was…"

"Unexpected? Yeah, I have a tendency to do that."

It took a few minutes, but they arrived at and entered an auditorium that was akin to a planetarium. "Please, have a seat anywhere," Winston gestured to the seats in the hall. Harry took one a few rows from the front and propped his feet up on the row in front of him. "I suppose you want to know why I asked you to be brought here?"

"It's on the top ten list," Harry casually replied.

Winston cleared his throat somewhat uncomfortably, primarily based on his response. "Well, I wanted to extend the opportunity to make a difference in the world-."

"Spare me the sales pitch, why do you want me specifically?" Harry interrupted.

This time Winston was really caught off guard as he was ready to give him the entire speech as to why he should become a member of the revived Overwatch. "I, uh, ahem." He skipped forward in his notes, pushing up his glasses as he did so. "The former Overwatch records show that a man with your appearance gave assistance during the Omnic Crisis years ago. However, Angela thinks that this is impossible due to the fact that you look the same as that person did years ago."

Harry looked back to see Angela sitting a few rows back. Pretty much everyone who had been at the gate to 'greet' him were there; well minus gear that was obtrusive like the Korean girl's mech. He studied the Swiss woman more and something clicked. "Oh yeah!" he snapped his fingers in realization. "I knew you seemed familiar!"

"So, you are him," Winston stated.

"I guess it depends on who you think I am," Harry still remained very elusive.

"Harry Potter," Angela replied.

"That's a name I haven't heard in a long time," Harry answered in his best Alec Guinness impression. The accent was spot on, but the air of an old, wizened man who had decades of wisdom wasn't. After all, he was a child at heart.

"Yes, well, your assistance would be invaluable in keeping the world safe," Winston said.

"Eh, not interested," Harry shrugged in dismissal.

This left the occupants in the room flabbergasted. "But the world could always use more heroes," Lena pleaded from the back.

Harry only chuckled in a way that sounded like scoffing. "I've been a 'hero' far longer than any of you have been alive." He made sure to put 'hero' in finger quotes.

They all picked up on the 'longer than any of you have been alive' part. Especially Reinhardt as he was the oldest person in the room by physical age alone. "But you saved so many people, you could do so again," Angela chimed in.

"That's because robotic assholes were trying to kill me. I only returned the favor." Harry sighed, "Listen, I only came here because I needed something to alleviate the boring life I have."

"Boring?" the Korean asked.

"Trust me. I've tried being an author, it was fun for a time. I tried designing video games, it was too cutthroat competitive for me. Wrote and directed a TV pilot, it never panned out; I think some test footage is still floating around on the internet. Tried being a naturalist, living off the land and all that; that sort of fell apart with expansion and all that. I've wandered the world, there's not much else in the world I haven't seen, and that's saying a lot." His eyes trailed towards the corner of the room and saw something. Something familiar. "Oh, bloody hell."

"What is it?" Winston asked, more out of curiosity than anything else. After all, Harry's outburst was uncalled for and unexpected.

" _Her_."

"Her? Who is 'her'?"

A shadow seemed to stretch from the corner which rose from the ground to take the shape of a little girl wearing what looked like it was goth inspired. The pale skin and the pitch-black hair definitely gave that aura off. But the most unsettling thing about her appearance was the eyes, her red eyes glowed with power that sent shivers down everyone's spine. "She is her," Harry gestured, still not making any sense to those in the room.

"And she is?"

"Death, with a capital D I might add."

The cowboy scoffed. "You seriously want us to believe that this little girl is Death?" he laughed. The girl turned to look at him and his laughter slowly died off in one of those uncomfortable decrescendo moments.

"What do you want?" Harry addressed her. There was absolute silence as there appeared to be an unspoken conversation going on between them. "You know I'm not going to do it, nor do I want to." She stared at him. "Well, you know as well as I do that I don't want to fight anymore. Is it too much to ask for an old man to have some time to himself?" She cocked her head to the side. "I don't see why that matters, people cross all the damn time." She looked more annoyed. "You realize that your problems are not mine." She then smirked with an evil grin that everyone felt unsettled by, Harry included. "Oh, hell no! You are not sending that Jamaican pile of bones to keep me in line." She cocked her head to the side, still keeping that evil grin. "Because he's annoying! Always going on about limbo this and limbo that WHILE in Limbo! And don't get me started on those two kids he found himself indebted to because he couldn't keep himself from getting too cocky on reaping the soul of a hamster. A HAMSTER!" Harry then paused at whatever he was going to say next when he saw the outright mischievous grin that she had. "Oh, hell no! You wouldn't dare!" She gave him a look of 'try me'. "Fine, I'll do it." That seemed to satisfy Death and she faded back into the shadows.

There was silence once more until the cowboy asked, "What in the Sam Hell was that about?"

"Well that, Senor Cowpoke-."

"McCree," he interrupted.

"Senor McCree," Harry corrected himself, although he didn't care, "is what maneuvering out of a bad deal with Death looks like."

"And what was the other side she was offering," Winston asked.

"Insinuating that I would have to take the place of one of her first Reapers who happens to be in a very one-sided Master-Slave relationship with two kids, one of which is a cold-hearted demon child with delusions of world domination and the other is dumber than a doornail to the point where it has been speculated that he has no brain." Harry shivered at the possibility of taking poor Grim's place. Those kids were truly something else. Had he never had kids he would have sworn them off after seeing that duo of terror. "The only way out of it was to be here and prevent more death which causes her more paperwork which would annoy her, which prevents me from having a headache."

"So, you'll join us?"

Harry sighed. "Yeah, I am. Just be prepared for weird things." McCree gave him a look of 'There's a talking gorilla before you and that's not weird?' "I mean weird in the sense of warping reality as you know it. Mind bending stuff."

"Well, then. You met Angela," Winston gestured to the blonde.

"You may call me Mercy in the field," she said in her very attractive accent. "I specialize in battlefield medicine."

"And that beside her is Lena, whom you also met in London."

"I'm Tracer! Well, in the field that is. You can call me either, I answer to both!" she replied chipperly with a salute.

"The 'cowpoke' as you called him, is Jesse McCree," Winston pointed to the man with the ten-gallon hat and general Western attire that you'd associate with a cowboy.

"Just call me McCree," he added.

"The young woman that you saw in the MEKA mech is Hana Song," Winston gestured to the twenty-something wearing a very skin tight suit reminiscent of the suits worn in _Neon Genesis Evangelion_. That being that they accentuated the breasts or pecs depending on the sex, the hips on women more prominently, the wearer's rear, and the stomachs showing abs. In essence, it was a body glove that allowed the wearer to quickly escape a doomed MEKA craft without any clothing that would be considered standard BDUs for foot soldiers to be caught on anything. Harry supposed that it was part over-sexualization for both sexes while at the same time preventing preventable deaths by stupid accidents, like a belt loop getting caught preventing your escape. So, it was a bit of a tradeoff.

"I'm D. Va. Although you've probably heard of me; I am a big _Starcraft II_ player," she added with smugness.

"Oh yeah," Harry recounted. "Didn't you get banned from official competitions for cheating or something?"

"I was using macros!" she shouted with indignation, clearly annoyed. "The judges didn't know the difference between using hacks and macros!"

Harry held his hands out in defense from the verbal lashing. "Geez, calm down."

Winston cleared his throat. "Moving on. The man in the power armor and the hammer is Reinhardt," The large German man nodded in acknowledgment. "He specializes in close combat and shielding allies behind his shield."

Reinhardt gave off a laugh that would seem jolly. "Don't worry my friend, for I am your shield!" he said.

"And finally, the last person in our group as of now is Torbjorn. Our mechanic and weapons expert," Winston said as he pointed towards the dwarf with an eyepatch and a robotic claw.

"If you need a weapon, I got it. If I don't have it, I can make it," Torbjorn said with pride.

"Now that we've introduced our little ragtag team, why don't you introduce yourself?" Winston said to Harry.

"My name is Harry Potter, and I'm a wizard," Harry introduced himself. He paused a moment before scowling. "I just realized that this sounded like an AA introduction."

McCree scoffed. "Right, a wizard," he said with air quotes. "So, do you cast spells and raise the dead?" he asked with a laugh.

"You can ask Angela and Lena if you want for proof," Harry shrugged.

The two women paled at remembering the other night. The blood, the gore, the screams. "We can vouch for it," Lena said before Angela could. "He turned common bullets into… animatronic wolves that hunted down the assassin that attempted to kill him, even after he was shot."

"In the head," Angela added with shock at remembering it, particularly what happened after.

That obviously raised some eyebrows. "You were shot, in the head?" Torbjorn asked.

"And it is unpleasant as you think it is," Harry replied.

"But… how?" Reinhardt asked, scratching his beard in confusion.

"Remember that little girl that I called Death?" He nodded. "That 'little girl' is my employer when it concerns Natural Law. She won't let me die until my employment with her is complete."

"And that is?" D. Va asked.

"If she has her way, forever. Which means I can't die." Unsurprisingly, there was silence in the room at those words. "So, what do you say we get down to business, what does this new Overwatch do?"

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And that's all I have for this time around. This was another of those ideas that were sitting on my HHD for forever that I finally got around to writing it. Part of it was I had no idea whether I wanted to go the Overwatch character adoption route (that is, Harry is adopted by an Overwatch character) that everyone likes to do (and that isn't exclusive to Overwatch at all); I'm not knocking on it, but there seems to be a bit of an oversaturation of them and wanted to attempt to take this in another direction.**

 **So, a couple of things to note in this chapter. First is that everyone who is involved with Overwatch (the faction) is not all there yet. Genji, Hanzo, Pharah, Bastion, Zenyatta, Lucio, Soldier 76, Ana, and Mei have not appeared in this fic (as well as the Talon faction members) and that is intentional. The primary reason is that it shows that Winston and Tracer have gotten a few key members, both old and new, in on this crazy, illegal thing. These remaining characters, especially Hanzo, Bastion, and Lucio could be swayed in either direction of Overwatch or Talon depending on the circumstances that I place the scenario in, especially Bastion as he's a robot who's just really gained his first moments of true intelligence rather than relying on his base programming; he's a blank slate. And Junkrat and Roadhog are two wild cards. This opens recruitment missions and stories surrounding those recruitment missions, leaving me plenty of room to work with should I continue this. I mean, if everyone who's signed up for Overwatch is there, what sort of story would I write? I mean Blizzard hasn't really done much in the present of Overwatch's story, only its past.**

 **The second is the inevitable asking of a pairing. It happens and I'm going to leave it right now as I'm contending with D. Va, Mei, or Mercy as potential pairings (remember I primarily do 1v1 pairings, not harems unless the situation calls for it; I'm looking at you ecchi, harem anime). As for actual sexual content, aka smut, no clue at this point. But for now, you can all speculate all you want.**

 **The big issue is what the overall conflict is going to be. Let's look at the greats: Star Wars is about Rebels fighting tooth and nail against an evil Empire of both good and bad people alike (IE: the ideologues and the people just doing their jobs), Lord of the Rings is getting the Ring to Mordor to defeat Sauron. Halo is defeating the Covenant and later teaming up with them to fight the Flood, every slice of life anime is yelling at the obvious main character to pick the Best Girl already, etc. What's the main conflict of Overwatch? What is the big conclusion everyone is working for? I and many others have no fricken clue. I mean, fighting Talon and rogue Omnics, but what else? Blizzard sure hasn't gone forth and given us a clear ending to Overwatch so it's going to be hard for me to do the same. Me, a guy on the internet doing this as a hobby versus Blizzard who are getting paid to write and design games.**

 **So, where does that leave us and this story? Well, it's a pilot, duh. I won't really be able to do anything with this story until Blizzard reveals even more about the world of Overwatch (a year after the game's release). I could theoretically write recruitment missions where Harry is included as a member for each of the known Overwatch members that join, but then I'd have to stop since I'd really have nothing else to work off of.**

 **But anyway, what did you guys think? Did you like it? Let me know down in the reviews. If you guys feel so inclined to help a guy out, I have a link in my profile for Loot Crate where you can save $5 on a subscription which gives me $5 for my next order as well by using that link. Wow, I sort of feel dirty for the shilling. But seriously though, let me know what you thought about this pilot. Do you have suggestions on how this could possibly continue (I'm asking you mysterious guest who has good reviews)?**

 **That's all I have for now, hopefully, I'll see you all next time!**


	32. A HP x Death Note (trololol Harry) pilot

**Alright, so another idea. So, a while back I was reading a few** _ **Death Note**_ **/** _ **Harry Potter**_ **crossovers. Some were good, others… not so much. With all fics, it's the luck of the draw. I'll be honest, it's the oversaturation of slash!fics, but that's just my opinion on that. Go ahead and do your thing, I don't care; I just won't read it as I'm not into it.**

 **So, the idea? What if the Master of Death title came with a more… important role than just being immortal and Death's bestest friend? What if that role was being the quintessential boss of the Shinigami? The big guy? The Great Bambino? I'm running out of quotable titles here. But you get the point. What if that was the case? Well, this pilot is my answer to this question.**

 **By the way, before I begin, I did finish watching the Netflix** _ **Death Note**_ **and I have to say it was not a bad film with pretty decent acting and effects overall, but not the greatest adaptation; so yeah, take the good with the bad. But let's get this show on the road. For a frame of reference for the time, this fic will take place shortly after the Kira killings (IE: when people start acknowledging Kira as the god behind it all).**

 **Rating: T as there will British smugness, a specific kind of dark humor, and of course mentions and very general descriptions of death carried out by the Death Note.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling and** _ **Death Note**_ **belongs Tsugumi Ohba and VIZ. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

XxXxXxX

Light Yagami was on the top of the world. His world. He stood on the corner of a busy street and listened to how the common man praised the actions of Kira, the killer god who struck down those who preyed on the weak. But little did the weak-minded populace know, their god was among them. HE was among them. After all, he was Kira. He was the one that observed the injustices of this world and delivered his justice upon the predators with the use of his Death Note. With this supernatural notebook, he would create the perfect world in his own image. And those that disrupted that perfection would be… excised.

Across the street, he saw the most peculiar thing, a foreigner dressed in a business suit. Italian made if he was not mistaken. There was even a red silk tie around his neck as well. He seemed to be watching Light, but more in the way of observation like a curious bystander. He pulled out an old-school pocket watch seemed to be checking the time, 'nothing odd there,' Light noted.

A city bus passed between them. One moment the man was there just glancing up at Light, the next he was obscured by the bus. When it passed the foreigner was no longer there. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end; usually, this would signify danger of some sort, but there was nothing to fear here, right?

"You are an interesting person, Light Yagami," a voice said from beside him, causing him to jump in surprise. Standing right next to him as if he too were waiting for a bus or taxi was the man from across the street. What shocked Light all the more that the man was speaking fluent Japanese with little to no accent.

Light made sure to take note of his face in the case he became a threat. "Oh, and why would that be? Have we met somewhere before?" He was ready to put a name to the face. Next to him, Ryuk was absolutely dead silent. Something that he never was.

"We've never met, young Light. However, I do know of you."

"Are you a friend of my father?"

"No," the man simply replied, clearly intending on annoying Light with that smug, wry grin.

Light was clearly annoyed. "So why am I so interesting to you?"

"This requires a story, don't worry as it's not a long one," the man started. "You see, when I was young in jolly old England I went to school just like any other child and one day we had a philosopher from Oxford come one day and ask us a very interesting question: if you had the power of God for one day, what would you do? Perhaps end world hunger? Would you keep those that you love from dying? What if you could banish sand from getting in your shoes when you walk on the beach? Eat all that you want and not gain a kilo?" He then turned to look at Light directly out of the corner of his eye. "Kill anyone you want in whatever sense of justice you have."

Light noted that the last one wasn't a question at all but a statement. He snapped towards the man and saw the smug look on his face. He KNEW that Light was Kira. "Who are you?" he demanded. He looked to Ryuk who was dead silent. No quip, no smartass remark. Nothing. It was if he feared the man.

"Why don't you tell him, Ryuk?" the man asked (see: ordered) Ryuk with a smile.

"T-this is Harry Potter," Ryuk replied nervously.

Light immediately took out his Death Note (which was jacketed to look like a textbook) and wrote Harry's name down. He smiled at the man maniacally while Harry just stood there with his own smile. Light looked down at what he wrote: 'Harry Potter, killed instantly by an out of control car.' The forty seconds ticked by slowly, the pedestrians who were completely oblivious to them, walking around them as if they were compelled to. Finally, the fortieth second came around and nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. Light was confused, after all, he didn't write down any postponement of the death.

"Expecting something to happen?" Harry asked in a very polite yet condescending tone.

The callout caused Light to look up at the mystery man who was still smiling at him pleasantly. He snapped to Ryuk, "Why is he not dead?"

"Maybe you should take another look at what you wrote."

Light looked down. To his shock the ink that Harry's name and the cause of his death were fading into the paper, as if the paper itself was absorbing the ink itself; eating it even. When it faded completely Light flipped the page and checked the other side and there wasn't any ink bleeding through the other side, just plain white paper. He flipped it back and the paper was completely absent one name and death; there wasn't even the imprint of a ballpoint pen to even signify that there had once been something written there.

Light took out his pen and wrote Harry's name one more time, this time skipping the specific death. 'A heart attack will do,' Light thought.

Unlike the previous time, the ink sank into the paper once again like a sponge. Light tried again. And again. And again. No matter how hard he wrote, no matter how many times he wrote the name 'Harry Potter', nothing happened to the man and the ink disappeared slowly, taunting him each time causing cracks to appear in his demeanor. Had the crowd around them been paying any attention, they would have noticed him looking more and more insane, desperate to kill a man. He even considered killing the man himself with the pen in his hands.

'Yes, if I jam this pen into his eye with enough force, it will go right into his brain, killing him,' he thought.

"I wouldn't do that," Harry advised. Sensing Light's next thought, Harry added, "More like it wouldn't work." Light blinked. One moment Harry was right in front of him, when he opened his eyes he had vanished. Light's eyes scanned the crowd, but it was unneeded as his Note was plucked from his hand. He turned to look to see Harry reading through it. "You've been a busy boy, haven't you?" Harry chided with a tone that one would use with a misbehaving child as he read through all of Light's additions to the Note. "I'll be honest, I'm impressed with all the names added. You do lack originality though. Just heart attacks? Come on, you could have been more creative. You could have made them more ironic and more poetic; put some thought into it." Harry shrugged, "I expected more from someone who claims to be more intelligent than his peers." He then snapped the Note shut with one hand, a sharp crack echoing as if there wasn't a single noise; the crowd still unaware of what was going on. "But here's the thing: you've been a naughty, naughty boy."

This struck a chord with Light. The only person who had, and was able, to chide him like that was his mother. Light shouted, "You-!"

"Enough!" Harry interrupted, his voice echoing; yet still, the pedestrians didn't notice a thing. Light immediately was quiet. He felt power he had never felt before rolling off this man, assuming he even was one. "Do you know why you've been 'naughty'? Because you didn't do your research into every person you killed. You killed innocents on top of those who were legitimately guilty. A percentage of those in Japanese prisons? Innocent as they took plea deals to avoid a long trial which could have landed them longer time for crimes they didn't commit. Those names of rapists that came from the States, the UK, and the rest of the Western world that were submitted to your little fan site? All allegations, no convictions. In fact, only about one percent of them were actually guilty and all of them were being taken seriously by the police in investigating them thoroughly. In fact, there were even a few people on death row that were one hundred percent innocent and were in the process of having their cases vetted and dismissed." Harry stared into Light's eyes. "'Kira saves'," Harry scoffed. "What kind of Justice kills those who were legitimately innocent?"

Harry looked into Light's eyes, examining every little twitch that they made. He watched his hands ball up and release. He saw the shift in his posture which signified he was on the defensive and was ready to bolt. He didn't show one iota of remorse.

"Do you know how much your little killing spree has caused the Powers that Be more annoyances than the American Civil War and both World Wars combined? Of course, you don't. You see, when you squishy mortals die you get judged by Arbitrators who determine if you're worthy of Reincarnation or not, and the 'not' is the easiest to deal with. Reincarnation is a very lengthy and annoying process for us, and the judged at the time. You see, when someone gets reincarnated they have to sign a huge number of forms in the realm of a few hundred pages. These chosen people have to sign and initial each blank in the documents, one of which states that they waive their rights to the memories of their former life, that one alone is around ten pages long itself, and the Arbitrator assigned to them during this process has to sign and date their own names acknowledging that they did watch the person sign and date the blank spaces, but they too have to include the time down to the second."

Harry saw the outright disbelief on Light's face. "Paperwork sucks everywhere. And unfortunately, a lot of the operations of the afterlife runs on it. Order demands it," Harry rolled his eyes. "But here's the thing. With those wars, we were prepared and were ready for the huge number of incoming souls. But you and your little crusade? Caught us completely off-guard." Harry turned to Ryuk, "She is not pleased with you." Ryuk gulped.

Light was outright shocked. _Nothing_ made Ryuk fearful. Not any of the murders that Light committed nor any of the trade-offs that Light made to ensure his perfect society a reality. But this Harry person had intimidated Ryuk with the ambiguousness of an unnamed woman. But the question was, what person could make Ryuk shake like that in fear?

"The thing is, Mr. Yagami," Harry interrupted Light, bringing him out of his thoughts, "this is one of the few things that you are incapable of understanding. But we have reached an impasse, especially with you." Harry let the ending hang. "But we of the otherworldly have a conundrum as we're not allowed to interfere with squishy mortals like yourself directly. We rely on chosen agents, coincidence even, to deal with people. Why do you think religion has existed as long as human history has even with the advent of atheism and agnosticism? But your situation is a little more… unique."

"Unique?" Light asked, his hand still grasping the Death Note. Well, if it was there, that is. So empty air.

"Oh yes," Harry replied with a grin. "You see, it's not every day when a Death Note makes its way into the mortal population; in fact, there are a few times where they have. Hitler was killed by one." Light found that to be very interesting. "Oh, yes. A survivor of one of the infamous death camps wrote that Hitler would commit suicide. They figured that it would prudent to show the remaining true Nazis that Hitler was a coward and chose the coward's way out instead of being prosecuted by The Hague for war crimes. A fitting end. But now we come to you." Light felt shivers run down his spine as Harry's eyes looked him over. "What shall we do with you?"

"Are you going to kill me?" Light attempted to sound confident but fell flat with his voice cracking like some pubescent teen.

Harry laughed. Not a maniacal laugh, like Light did when no one was watching, but one that sounded like Light made the funniest joke in the entire world. "No. Don't you remember? Us immortals can't directly interfere with you mortals. No, we have something else in mind for you." Harry then looked at Ryuk. "Why did you give him the Note?"

"I never gave him it," Ryuk replied quickly.

"Why did you allow him to **keep** it?" Harry reiterated.

Ryuk looked around as if he were searching for answers. "He looked like he would do something interesting with it."

Harry looked at Light once again, this time more critically. "Hmm, you're right. He certainly is 'interesting'." Harry took a few steps forward. Light made no movements to retreat. "Perhaps we can make this more… interesting. This little game of yours."

"What did you have in mind?" Light carefully asked.

"Hmm," Harry hummed with his hand on his jaw in a Thinker's pose. "I got it!" he snapped his fingers as he pulled his hand away. He rapped his knuckles against the Note and then handed the Note to Light. "Here."

Light looked at him as if Harry had grown a second head. "Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"What's the catch?" Light asked as he took the Note.

"What makes you think there's a catch?" Harry answered innocently.

"Because you just went on this whole tirade about how I'm a problem for you. What, are you going to go tell L who I am?"

"While tempting, he already suspects who you are out of a pool of suspects. The catch, as you say, are some new rules added to the Note. I would go ahead and get acquainted with them as they now determine what you can do with it. As I said, the immortals sometimes like entertainment, and you've caught the attention of my… employer. Hope, for your sake, that her interest isn't a waste of her time." Harry made sure to leave that on a very ominous note. "What are you waiting for? Read the rules," Harry ordered.

Light opened the Note, specifically towards the end of where the rules had ended once before as that seemed to be the logical place to put new rules. In fact, it seemed as though a new page had been added just for new rules to be added on. Light saw the new rules and his eyes widened, this would definitely put a screw into his plans that he would have to work around.

"What are you waiting for? Read them aloud for the rest of the class," Harry said with an insulting tone as he treated Light like an elementary school student.

"The wielder of the Note may not use said Note to kill off members of their family, especially if said family stands in the way of their agenda. Nor may said wielder use another person to write the names of a family member nor trick said family member into writing their own name into the Note," Light read with annoyance, realizing that he nor anyone else could kill off his father, who is a police officer, if he got in Light's way in building his new utopia. "The wielder of the Note may not give the Note to another individual to carry out their agenda in their stead without relinquishing absolute authority of the Note; that meaning that may have no influence over the new wielder's choices. If absolute control is not relinquished, then the names written in the Note will have a decreasing level of effectiveness to the point of single-digit percentages."

"As you can see, there's been a few… constraints placed upon you now because of your little spree killing of those you see as the scum of humanity," Harry said, pulling Light's attention away from the two new rules in the Note. "Personally, I think the rest of my fellow immortals wouldn't have cared if you got rid of the legitimate scum because we can process them quickly and thoroughly evaluate those who should have a chance at reincarnation. But hey, you can't change the past and that's hindsight for you." Harry then raised a hand in a salute that wouldn't be amiss in an anime anti-hero or childhood rival. "Have fun!"

Light stared at the mysterious man who vanished right before his eyes. It wasn't like he faded. No. He was there one moment and gone the next. And when Harry vanished, the crowd seemed to resume as they would have had Harry not been there in the first place. Light thought upon his plans, these new rules would change everything.

Meanwhile, hidden from the eyes of mortals, two individuals stood on a rooftop. One, of course, was Harry. Next to him was what looked like a girl that could have easily had been his daughter had people seen them and ignored the fact that they were standing on a roof precariously.

"Was this the wisest decision?" the girl asked in a very monotone way.

"Maybe, maybe not," Harry replied with a shrug. "We'll have to see."

"I hope you have contingencies in place?"

"Do you really think I'm THAT cocky?"

She gave him a deadpan look. "You forget that I've known you for many years across many timelines."

Harry shrugged. "Ok, I am THAT cocky, but I wouldn't be that cocky if I didn't have a backup plan in place. Plus, you wouldn't allow anything to happen to me, right?" There was no response. "Right?" More silence. "Well, let's see how this goes, shall we?"

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **So. That happened. As you can see this was a pretty short pilot in comparison to my normal pilot length. About 2.9k words. Not bad. Actually, it's quite the perfect length for a first chapter. Before I get into my normal post-pilot things I want to do with this, I do have a couple of notes.**

 **First and foremost, I did have more rules I wanted to implement to really mess with Light. By messing with Light this challenges me on how I can get him to think his way out of it without being caught. Also, that remark about Hitler being killed by a Note? I thought that was pretty funny at the time because how poetic is it that he did commit suicide rather than face the consequences of his actions on the world stage, makes his ideology look weak when he has to take his own life. Third, did you know that there's a theory that states that** _ **Death Parade**_ **and** _ **Death Note**_ **share a universe? Interesting stuff.**

 **Alright, so what do I want to do with this story? Well, as you can tell, this will be a "what-if" scenario where Harry as the Master of Death (and Death's bestest friend) mess with Light just to see if he is as intelligent as he claims to be. Already Harry has interfered with Light's plans, just how much can he screw them up for the lulz and Light attempting to gain some semblance of recovery. Basically, when Light overcomes one hurdle, he has to look over his shoulder to make sure that our favorite Brit isn't looking back at him to issue him another challenge that will mess his plans up even more that he has to fight through. Basically, Harry will be a huge troll doing things just to fuck with Light and the living people just for laughs.**

 **But that's all I really have for this one. Do you have any suggestions on how I can make this one really work? What did you like? What didn't you like? Let me know. Have any suggestions for future ideas? Also, let me know, I just might use it. And before you ask Shadowz101, I'm still working on your idea that you messaged me a while back.**

 **Until next time!**


	33. A HP x SW x TT oneshot

**So, I've got a new idea, well now like it's based off a scenario started off by the user Kyuubi16 here on the site. His story "Betrayal: The Dark Heroes" (** id: 11883151 **) is a Naruto/Teen Titans crossover and to be honest I liked the initial premise behind it which was Starfire is taken in the place of her criminal sister in the episode aptly enough named "Sisters". And I thought, "hey, this is a cool idea. I wonder what I can do with this should I insert a different character instead of anyone from the Naruto series." Then it came to me: Star Wars.**

 **This fic chapter will change between first and third person perspectives, the first person will be told from Harry's POV while inside of single-quoted italicized blocks of text (not literal blocks though). You can see an example below labeled "Narration."**

 **Rating: T for some violence and language.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word.** _ **Teen Titans**_ **belongs to DC Comics.** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney.** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic Books, and the Warner Brothers for the stories, book publishing rights, and movie distribution rights respectively.** **See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

' _Narration.'_

" **Radio communication."**

XxXxXxX

 _Somewhere on the border of Wild Space and the Unknown Regions._

' _Being a bounty hunter is a very personal career choice, either you choose it because you live for the life of a mercenary or because you have no other choice, the later applies to yours truly. There is a very big misconception about bounty hunters is that they only hunt down those with a bounty on their head, in reality we're more like mercenaries who only work for themselves without a company behind them. Sure, there are quite a few outfits but they're continually under the watchful eye of the Empire just waiting for them to slip up, hence why most bounty hunters worked either in small groups or alone, plus you don't have to worry about guild fees._

' _But who am I? My name is Harry Skirata (or Potter depending on where you're from) and I'm a Mandalorian. Now that I think about it that sounds more like a AA meeting introduction. Things to know about me? Let's see… I was born on a planet deep in the Unknown Regions roughly eighteen years ago, well at least if I go by my homeworld's solar cycle; the galactic standard year is a bit… weird to say the least, primarily because of Coruscant's twenty-four hour, three hundred sixty-eight-day year. Sometimes it doesn't transfer over to other planets easily like Ryloth, Corellia, or Tatooine who all have shorter celestial years or slightly longer or shorter days. Ramblings aside, I was found by a bounty hunter seeking out some guy who did something, I never did ask, and after completing his job took me in after finding me abandoned on a doorstep when I was an infant for whatever reason. When I asked him years later he just said "because something compelled him to." Said bounty hunter? A Mandalorian named Kal Skirata._

' _When he discovered that I was strong in the Force he found some Jedi on the run and offered her sanctuary in return for training me and one other kid in how to keep our abilities a secret, after all the Empire would want to have us killed or taken away since we were still young enough to be indoctrinated. At the same time as learning how to use the Force I was trained in the traditional ways of how to be a Mandalorian warrior. Safe to say, I think I turned out quite well. I can use the Force as both a weapon and to subtly augment my physical abilities to help me do my job more effectively.'_

Harry sat in a bar he frequented on a major hub world for trade. The reason? Beings seeking out people of his skillset make themselves easily found for employment. He currently sat in a corner booth dressed in his beshkar armor, his helmet and blaster rifle sitting on the table and his blaster pistols holstered and a heavily modified probe droid floating above the table ready to translate. Currently, he had two lovely ladies of two different species vying for his attention, more like it was the owner of the bar to get him to spend more money. Oh, he wished that there were more of his vode here if for only a drinking song and maybe a fight.

The night was just starting up for the bar as more patrons entered. Two of which approached his table, to which his eyes did not miss but followed as the buxom women that were with him kept coercing him to drink more. The two male figures stood in front of the table as if waiting for him to acknowledge them. They said something, but the droid translated, "We heard you do things for payment?"

"I might," I replied, to which the droid translated back; after all, I speak fluent mando'a, "but it depends on the job."

"I would prefer if this was discussed more privately."

'Sensitive information?' Harry turned his attention to the ladies currently pressing their bodies onto his sides. "Leave us." The two women pouted before begrudgingly leaving. "So, what is so secret that I had to send away the lovely ladies who can't speak your language, Tamaranian?"

"It is not necessarily what I say, but who I am," he replied before adjusting his cloak enough for Harry to see who it was.

"Now this is interesting, the King of Tamaran sitting with me at my table. I suppose I should be honored. Now, what job would you like to propose, your highness?" Harry replied while folding his hands together in plain view on the table.

"My daughter, Koriand'r, has been falsely imprisoned for a crime committed by her sister."

"I still don't see why you need me or my services, appeal the case or prove they have the wrong person."

"Because the Centaurians will not listen!" the king shouted, slamming his fists on the table. The bar owner looked at Harry, ready to pull out a particle rifle, but Harry waved him off. "They have her locked up in the most secure prison in the sector built for the vilest and despicable beings in the galaxy and the warden is keeping her like a spoil of war."

There was an uncomfortable silence as Harry thought. "If I am going to accept this job I'm going to need information. What prison exactly and what does she look like? I'm also going to need any information you have on this prison: defenses, personnel, weapons, floor plans, patrol routines, protocols."

The king pulled out a datapad which displayed a fairly beautiful redhead with green eyes wearing traditional royal Tamaranian attire. If one would choose one word to describe her one would probably choose 'hot' as the first one that would come to mind. "This is her."

Harry looked at his droid, "Scan it." The droid hopped off his shoulder and carefully examined the image. A moment later the droid turned back around, its primary lens looking him in the eye and nodded. "Do you have any further information that will aid me?"

The king sighed, probably out of embarrassment. "My elder daughter, Komand'r, was last seen heading towards the planet called 'Earth' by its local populace."

"Shit," Harry muttered.

"You are familiar with the planet in question?"

"Unfortunately, a certain subculture and I on that planet have a… history."

"Will this keep you from taking the job?"

"No. If anything I am a professional, I will take your job, but first we have to discuss payment."

XxXxXxX

 _Jump City, Titan Tower. One week later._

It was not easy to track her down, but Harry found the location of Komand'r. Harry had to have his personal droid, one whose memory was copied over from the original HK-47 whose droid chassis had long rusted and had implanted that new memory in a more combat oriented CIS commando droid chassis, slice into the Watchtower mainframe which had been beyond easy. After all, they didn't seriously expect a droid to latch on and hack them at the source rather than remotely. HK had mentioned they really needed to update their firewall to Imperial standards. After that, he cross-referenced any sightings of a flying redheaded, orange tinted skin girl who could fire off bolts from her hands. This lead him to Jump City where he spent the next three days sitting on a mountain with a modified DC-17m variant sniper rifle watching as these Teen Titans fought crime. He watched as they would always retreat to the T-shaped tower on the island in the bay of the city.

Two nights ago, he sent HK to download their structural mainframe in order to assemble a battle plan. After all, Komand'r would not give up without a fight and if she was lying to her teammates as he thought she was, then they'd fight alongside her. Only one option remained, shock and awe. Strike hard and quickly and disable the others so he could interrogate the traitorous sibling. Harry checked over his equipment one last time before starting his mission. His jump pack was set with high explosive homing missile attached, his trusty E-11 blaster rifle he had gotten off some dead Stormtrooper during a riot, his right gauntlet that held a hidden vibrodagger, a liquid cable whipcord, and sported a flamethrower, his left gauntlet that had a mini-missile launcher and carbonite launcher, and his full blue and black highlighted beshkar armor and matching T-visored helmet. Next were his dual, heavily modified DC-15s sidearms that held more rounds per power pack and fired on either semi or fully automatic. The last thing though, and he hoped not to use it, was the lightsaber he constructed. It was simple and elegant like Darth Revan's Jedi blade. No need to make it super fancy as he needed to be able to hide it; the blade of which being a darker blue than the generic blue most Jedi had before the Purge.

"Statement: Master, we are in position and the cloaking is active," HK stated through his headset.

"Good, stay cloaked and be ready for a hot extraction," Harry replied.

"Advisement: You would do well to incapacitate the hooded one before interrogating the Tamaranian."

"I was planning on doing that anyway, HK." Harry's modified probe droid perched itself on his shoulder like a lizard-monkey or an avian of some kind.

"Commentary: You show excellent reasoning skills, for a meatbag that is."

"Open the ramp." Slowly the ramp lowered from the belly of the ship and stopped when it reached a forty-degree angle. "Here goes nothing," he muttered before starting to sprint, the Force augmenting his already impressive sprinting speed. Reaching the end of the ramp he activated his jump pack and drew a DC-15s from its holster, he rocketed towards the window that housed the Titans' living room and kitchen from what his thermals told him, he fired a single overcharged shot before bracing himself for impact. The plasma bolt smashed into the window causing it to implode inwards. He landed in a roll and righted himself to immediately aim his E-11 and fired a stun round into the one named Raven, she collapsed into a heap on the floor, mostly unharmed. He then turned his attention to Komand'r and fired his whipcord at her, who was surprisingly still in shock and incapacitated her.

"Who are you, what do you want?!" the teen named Robin demanded.

Harry looked at him through his visor but turned his attention to the Tamaranian struggling to get free. He pulled out his sidearm again and placed it under her chin. "I've heard of you," Komand'r said in both slight fear but with more admiration speaking in English.

"Who is this, Blackfire?" Cyborg asked as Beast Boy checked on Raven who was just groaning incoherently while being unconscious.

"A bounty hunter. He mostly takes his targets alive but has been known to eliminate some who are considered the scum of the galaxy with extreme prejudice."

"You're lucky that your father wishes you to be alive, otherwise you'd be joining them," Harry growled.

"What do you want?"

"Information on the Centaurian prison."

"And why would I know anything about that place?" Blackfire questioned.

"You would know, considering you were the one that stole from them in the first place."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as everyone in the room processed what Harry just said. Blackfire just stared at him in fear, mostly because she had been exposed. "I don't know what you're talking about," she replied nervously.

Harry turned his attention to the three still conscious Titans. "Where did she say her sister went off to?" he queried.

"Blackfire said her sister went back to Tamaran to clear up some things with her father," Beast Boy stated.

"Well, she lied to you." Harry then turned his attention to Blackfire once more. "You can either tell me what you know, or I can rip it from your mind," Harry threatened.

"What are you doing to do? Strap me to an interrogation suite or use the mystic mumbo-jumbo that Raven uses?" she jested.

"The Holocron of Darth Revan were quite... descriptive when on the subject of interrogation and mind reading."

There was silence as the Titans wondered who this Revan was. As for Blackfire, she also did not know who Revan was but she did know that in the days of old Lords that wielded extreme amounts of power had the word 'Darth' in front of their name. "I'll tell you what you want to know!" she shouted.

"Good, because you're coming with me," Harry said as he pulled his blaster away from her chin but kept it pointed at her chest.

"WHAT?!"

"I need to make sure you aren't lying to me. If you skimp on any information you'll be in the same boat that I'm in: captured if not dead." He then took her by the shoulder and prodded her back with his blaster. "Go on."

Harry walked her towards the window when his attention was directed to the group. "Wait!" Robin shouted. "We're coming with you."

Harry turned to look and see that Raven had just woken up, his suspicions were that she was given something to wake up quickly. "I work alone." He then turned around and prodded Blackfire with his blaster.

He immediately felt a twinge of danger through the Force and fired behind him only to hit one of the explosive boomerangs that Robin used. "We're coming with you to rescue our friend whether you like it or not!" he shouted as he prepared another boomerang.

"Yeah, we'll force you to take us with you," Beast Boy added.

They then saw a red dot appear on Beast Boy's chest that came from the now decloaked ship's cargo bay. "Advisement: It would be in your best interests to not threaten my master, pubescent meatbag," HK said, his eyes glowing in the dim hold. "Query: Shall I terminate these meatbags for you, master?"

"Only if they attack. And don't go overkill, we're going to need that ammo," Harry replied dismissively as he led Blackfire into his ship.

The teens started to move into position, waiting for an attack order. HK cocked his blaster rifle and aimed. "Quotation: Do you feel lucky?"

"No, man...robot, we're good," Cyborg replied nervously as he had no idea what weapon both the bounty hunter and the robot were using, but he knew it was much deadlier than his sonic blaster.

The ramp retreated into the ship's hull and the outer door magnetically sealed, hiding the killer robot from them. The ship turned around and the engines started to power up. "Raven, can you get us inside?" Robin asked, more-so shouting over the engines.

"I think so, hold on!" she replied before surrounding the team in her black magic aura. The teens felt the extremely odd sensation of being stretched while a shadow stretched, impacting the hull of the ship.

Meanwhile, in the cockpit, Harry was running through the final pre-launch check before gunning the engines. The delta-winged ship blasted into space at speeds that a responding fighter jet was incapable of matching. The ship continued to climb rapidly. "Cat, once we break atmosphere make the jump to light speed," Harry ordered.

A female holographic figure appeared wearing the same type of armor Harry wore but had cat ears on the top of her head. "It's already done, Cap'n," she chipperly replied with a salute. She then turned her attention to holographic consoles that appeared in front of her, a visual representation of what she was doing digitally. The advanced starship breached into space before any terrestrial military could send any fighter jets to investigate. Harry watched as the so-called Watchtower appeared slowly in the forward viewport before quickly vanishing as the whine of the hyperdrive reached critical power and the ship vanished from real space into hyperspace.

The familiar blue glow and vortex of hyperspace filled the cockpit of Harry's ship. "ETA to our destination?" Harry asked his AI companion.

"T-minus ten hours from the moment we entered hyperspace."

"And our 'guest'?"

"Angry, she keeps trying to destroy the stun cuffs. It was a wise investment to have those coated in quadranium. For now, she's pacing in her cell in the brig."

"Are we still in range of the hypercomm buoy?"

"We will be in range of your very unconventional hypercomm buoy for the next hour."

"While I believe the civilization of Earth is primitive, I still enjoy their media," Harry shrugged. He then stood up from his pilot's chair. "I'm going to interrogate the older daughter. Keep us on course, Cat."

"Aye, aye cap'n."

"HK, you're with me."

"Exclamation: Oh, master! Are you going to allow me to interrogate the prisoner for information? I know many techniques for hurrying a response from the meatbag."

Harry rounded on his ancient droid companion. "Her father is paying for her to be returned alive and unharmed. I will not risk this very large payday by damaging her."

"Confirmation: Of course, master. It was only a suggestion. Suggestion: I do know of some persuasion techniques that my former master was quite proud of using."

"Do they use psychological torture?" Harry asked dryly.

"Insulted commentary: Of course not, master. Master Revan was quite proud of his 'silver tongue', being able to convince anyone to do his bidding with speech alone."

"If it comes down to me needing assistance, I'll let you know." They then disembarked from the bridge and made their way towards the cargo deck where Harry also kept his brig as well. It was a cramped space, and that was the point, to make the prison feel extremely uncomfortable. Harry walked nearer to the bars and the Tamaranian princess stared daggers at him. "Your Highness, you will now tell me about every defense this prison has from either person all knowledge to hearsay that people have uttered," Harry said as he drew put a portable holoprojector and activated it, showing a rendering of the prison. "And before you think of lying to get out of your father's punishment, those cuffs can cause insurmountable amounts of pain, and I just so happened to sync it with my heart monitor. If I die, you die. I know that Tamaranians, like Kryptonians, are extremely durable but the right amount of pain can kill even the most durable species."

Blackfire looked into the bounty hunter's visor and saw that he wasn't lying. If she could see his eyes she would have seen the deadly intent they held. She then relented and spilled everything that she had either seen personally or what rumors were around the galaxy. Harry made sure to have his probe droid to record her vitals, primarily her heart rate, pupil dilation, breathing, and for the secretion of adrenaline. While not human, Tamaranians did do some things biologically like humans do like procreation and certain biological triggers like when lying or other specific emotions regardless of how much they as a society may suppress the urge to display them. Harry was looking for the biological signs of deceit.

After hearing what she knew about the defenses Harry figured out that this was no longer a one-man job and he needed some extra help. He made his way to the small comms room that had a full communications suite with encoding capabilities. Before he entered, he felt something in the Force in three back of his mind and turned to HK, "Cloak and watch her."

"Query: Why do I need to guard the meatbag?" HK questioned with a cocked head module.

"Something feels off. As in the Force sending a slight warning, not a gut feeling." Harry then summoned his custom probe droid to him with a few keystrokes on his command gauntlet. The droid appeared a moment later, as it wasn't a large warship or anything, which landed on his shoulder and he ordered, "Search the entire ship for stowaways. If my presence is required you will find me in the middle of a call." The droid left off of his shoulder and activated its repulsorlift engine and silently buzzed off to follow his order.

Harry closed the door behind him and approached the holocomm system. He first dialed up the first of two people he knew he could count on. He waited a few minutes as the call connected and was greeted with a female voice saying, "Hello?"

"Su cuy'gar, Sabine!" Harry greeted.

Her demeanor changed from a relatively happy tone to angry. "You! How dare you call me again!"

"Udesii, vode!" Harry replied. "Surely you still can't be holding that grudge against me?" he asked innocently.

"You shot me!"

"In the foot! How else was that guy going to take me seriously? He dropped you and we both got away."

"I couldn't walk for a week so until I can return the favor I'm going to hold that against you."

Harry shrugged. "Fair enough. But listen, I have a job that I could seriously use your help on."

"Oh, that's rich. What hairbrained scheme are you on about now?"

"It is not a scheme, it's a legitimate job offer with a lot of zeros behind it."

"Sounds like a scam to me."

"Not a scam, it's a simple rescue mission to get a wayward princess back to her father paying a bunch of money for the job to be done."

"What's the catch?" she asked with crossed arms.

"She was wrongly accused of a crime and is now in a maximum-security prison."

"No."

"No?"

"No, Vod. You're on your own."

"Oh, come on! Is this still about the foot? I'll let you shoot me in the foot after the job's done."

"As tempting as that sounds, I have to decline, even if I did get to shoot you in the foot." He then watched as she reached forward for a button. "Goodbye, vod. Best of luck to you." She then pressed the button to end the call.

"Well, that was a bust. I wonder if Ordo would be willing to help out?" Harry dialed Ordo's comm frequency and not a moment later his elder brother appeared in holographic form, "Vod! I need some help on a job, would you be willing to help your younger brother out? I'll cut you in on the payday?"

"Give me the details," Ordo replied. It took several minutes before Harry finished explaining the job. "And you intended to do this solo?"

"Why do you think I called you first?"

Ordo had an expression of absolute disbelief. "Knowing you I highly doubt I was the first." He sighed, "What are your coordinates?" Harry gave the coordinates of both where he planned on dropping out of hyperspace and the prison itself. "I'll meet you there vod, try not to start without me." Ordo then closed the comm channel.

Harry walked back into the cargo hold and makeshift brig as his probe droid flew up in front of him. It let out a series of bleeps known as Droid Binary. Once it finished Harry replied, "Oh really?" After a few more bleeps Harry said, "Well, why don't we go and welcome our guests?"

Meanwhile, down in the cargo hold the Titans could feel that something was off. Really off. Even though Raven was keeping them hidden on this mystery ship they could feel as though they had already been discovered. But that was impossible, right? Raven hid them using her magic.

Harry moved slowly into cargo hold as he already knew where the intruders/stowaways were. You could use magic to hide from organics, but not sensors and droids. Harry drew his blaster pistol, a WESTAR-34, one of many he kept hidden around the ship in case he needed them, and set it to stun; after all, he didn't want to bloom a hole in his ship that would cause explosive decompression while in hyperspace. He set his HUD and sensor to infrared he looked for the hidden stowaways in the hold. He then looked right at a black void and turned the safety off.

They knew they had been made, but yet they hoped that their silence would make the bounty hunter look the other way and forget about that they were even there. The more that the bounty hunter stood in the same location, the more uneasy they felt. At last, Beast Boy said what everyone was thinking. "Is it just me, or is he looking right at us?" he whispered.

"That's because he can," Harry replied as he leveled his pistol at them. "There's no point in hiding, drop the illusion and put your hands up."

"Suggestion: It would be wise to listen to the master. You certainly wish to remain alive, yes?" HK asked. The Titans were shocked at the fact that the hunter's companion had snuck up on them without them noticing. That, and it also leveled the same very intimidating rifle that it had back at the tower. They complied and Raven lowered her spell, allowing them to be seen; they then stood up and raised their hands up in the international sign of surrender.

"So, what are you four stowaways doing on my ship?" Harry asked.

"We want to help our friend! Isn't that enough?" Robin asked in turn, to which Harry only cocked his head slightly to the side.

"And do you know how to infiltrate a maximum-security prison that you don't even know anything about through the front door and have multiple contingencies in the case one or more of those plans go to shit?"

"It can't be that hard, can it?" Cyborg asked.

"Were it so easy I would to it myself, but I had to call upon my older brother."

"See, you do need us!" Beast Boy replied.

"Are you a trained soldier in multiple forms of combat and weapons that you can pick up anything and use it? Do you have a reaction time that those with decades of combat experience and training have? How about fighting in Zero-G environments?" When they did not respond Harry said, "I thought so. Based on the fact you are stowaways I am conflicted what to do with you."

"Conflicted?" Robin asked.

"One part of me wants you jettisoned from the airlock while still in hyperspace, the other half wants to dump you on the nearest planet with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere."

"You can't do that!" Cyborg shouted.

"Yeah, that would kill us! Wouldn't it?" Beast Boy asked.

"Most humanoid races survive around two minutes in hard vacuum before expiring, and that's assuming their lungs don't explode from the change in pressure from one atmosphere to zero first," Harry replied.

"Then we'll fight you!" Robin shouted.

"You'd still die regardless. You seriously wouldn't think that I wouldn't have taken precautions to prevent someone from commandeering my ship? Plus, we Mandalorians? We fight to the death and make sure to take as many of our enemies with us." Harry placed his finger on the trigger, ready for anything that these super-powered teens might have up their sleeves.

"They can be useful," a female said from behind him. Harry looked and saw Blackfire standing at the bars of the brig he installed.

"Oh? How so?"

She looked at her temporary teammates before looking Harry in the eyes, or where his eyes were behind his helmet. "In the short time I've spent amongst them I've seen them fight as a team. They are brash at times and have a penchant of arresting criminals instead of taking them out permanently as to not have to deal with them again, but they have hearts of warriors."

"They certainly don't have the composure of one," Harry commented.

"True."

"Hey!" Beast Boy shouted indignantly.

"Although they can get a job done if they put their minds to it."

Harry thought deeply without taking his eyes off of them. Cyborg could fight as well as perform electronic countermeasures, although he was unconvinced that he would be able to cleanly interface with the alien technology. The girl, Raven, had magic, that was for sure; but there was something off about it, it felt eldritch in nature and not like the Force or magic of Earth. Beast Boy Harry considered a useful idiot with a complex of not giving up on his friends, he could manipulate his form into different animals from Earth and could be useful in crowd control. Robin had the look and carried himself like a leader, whether it was deserved or handed to him was a debate for another time; he was proficient in hand to hand skills that could be useful in the cramped corridors of the prison's hallways.

"It seems we are at a crossroads. Bounty Hunter etiquette says that all participants are paid for their work, which before you came in would have been split between my brother and I. But your being here has complicated the numbers. It's a good thing that you're not part of the Bounty Hunter's guild."

"Meaning?" Raven asked.

"I don't have to pay you at all."

Beast Boy sputtered, "But that's not fair!"

"You stowed away on my ship and now after this mission, I'll have to return you home which will cost me more money in fuel than I would like. Plus, I thought heroes fought evil for no monetary payment in return?" After a full ten seconds of doing an impression of a fish, Beast Boy knew that he had no argument. "Settle in and get whatever rest you can, once we meet up with my brother we'll be on our way to the prison." Harry turned to leave and stopped before saying, "Don't touch anything."

As Harry left the four teens finally breathed out, actually noticing that they were indeed holding their breaths. "Statement: You are very lucky that the master was convinced by the female meatbag that you were of use to the operation. Observation: You wouldn't have lasted long against the master, not with your current skills," HK said, rubbing their noses into it.

"Why do you say that? We're a great team," Robin replied.

"Explanation: The master has been one of the most competent masters I've had. Not as powerful as master Revan, but powerful enough to deal with the likes of you without breaking a sweat," HK replied as he left the room.

The Titans spent the next four hours being very quiet as they attempted to piss off their 'host' as he went about his business. At the end of the fourth hour, they felt the ship lurch to a stop. Harry came back into the cargo bay and waited next to a circular airlock. They hear sounds from outside the airlock as something connects to the hull of the ship. After a full minute of computer-controlled procedure, the door finally hissed open to reveal another person in the same armor that Harry wore.

"Ner vod," the older voice declared.

Harry walked forward and grabbed the arm of his brother and he returned the gesture. "It is good to see you again, vod."

Ordo looked past Harry and saw the four other teens, "Help?"

"No, stowaways who will make themselves useful if they want a ride back home."

"I assume you have a plan?" Ordo asked as he walked inside the ship. A droid walked onto the ship as well as it carried and dropped several bags that it brought on from Ordo's ship onto Harry's. Some were quite small as they were bags, but others were large plasteel cases that looked like military hardware containers.

"Of course I do, what do you think I am, some grunt?" Harry replied with a raised eyebrow. "I had to make some obvious changes," Harry added as he looked at the four teens, "but you know what they say, 'plans never survive first contact with the enemy.' I had to improvise their involvement in the plan, but it'll still work out in the end." Harry turned an eye towards the teens and asked Ordo, "You wouldn't happen to have any extra sets of beskar on board, would you?"

"Just mine and a few replacement pieces of armor and an extra helmet. Why, you get in a fight with these children and they managed to hurt you, vod'ika?" Ordo laughed.

"No, if my plan was going to work I would have had a theme going with a uniformed group rather than a bunch of random beings. It makes for a more convincing message of a mercenary force to be reckoned with."

Ordo shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, vod. I only have pieces of armor but no full sets that everyone can use, except us, of course."

Harry sighed, "Well, we'll just have to make use of it then. Have any spare rebreathers specified for vacuum?"

Ordo thought for a moment, "That I do have. What are you thinking, vod?"

"Something completely insane if things go and hit the fan. Your armor is rated for vacuum, right?"

"It is."

"Then we should be good if everything else goes wrong. But please, make yourself at home, vod."

Harry and Ordo left to head towards the cockpit and the droid that was bringing in the bags kept doing its business until everything that it had been told to had been brought on board and left Harry's ship, the airlock closed behind it and the series of sounds that had happened before Ordo came on board had reversed as Ordo's ship disengaged the magnetic clamps and floated off as to gain some distance between them. It then leaped into hyperspace leaving Harry's ship and her passengers alone in the void of space. Harry's ship reoriented itself so it pointed towards the system that the Centaurian prison was located. The ship then jumped into hyperspace, leaving the small void that was once populated, once again empty.

XxXxXxX

 _Centaurian Maximum Security Prison Station. Hours later._

Harry's ship dropped out of hyperspace several thousand kilometers away from the Centaurian prison. The prison itself was based inside of the rings of a gas giant making it much more difficult for anyone to break in as it required highly complex calculations and predetermined routes along precalculated routes. Routes that were lined with anti-ship weapons meant to discourage any breakouts as well as anyone attempting to break anyone out from the outside.

Which is the reason why they were heading in the way that they were expected, but the way out was going to be much more improvised, but that wouldn't be a problem for someone like Harry.

Harry's heavily modified freighter moved without delay as it approached one of the many routes to and from the prison traveled by law enforcement as well as bounty hunters bringing in bounties. After all, only the most dangerous of people could obtain and restrain the most dangerous of intergalactic criminals. Harry watched as they flew through the cleared corridor that had no large rock or debris that led to the facility that the anti-ship weapons were tracking them.

 **"Unknown vessel, state your intentions,"** came through the radio.

Harry reached forward and tapped a button on the console, "This is the freighter _Iona_ coming in to redeem a bounty posted by your government, please advise that the prisoner is highly dangerous."

 **"What bounty? We don't have anything posted."**

"I'd rather not say anything more over an unsecured, open frequency. You'll see who it is in processing."

Harry didn't need the Force to tell that the other side definitely didn't like that. **"Very well. Do not deviate from your course or you will be fired upon."**

"Understood, control. _Iona_ out." Harry closed the channel.

"Well, we've got our way in," Ordo commented.

The freighter flew towards the doughnut-shaped station which had several spokes that jutted out from both the outside going outwards and on the inside jutting both on the 'north' and 'south' dimensions of the station. Along the outer portion of the station were several docking bays. Not umbilical bays, but full-blown docking bays with magnetic containment fields keeping the atmosphere in. "Well that will make things much easier," Harry muttered.

"You didn't know about that?" Ordo asked.

"No, my guest neglected to mention that when I questioned her about the specs of the station." And Harry left it at that as he manually piloted the freighter towards the station as if he were following an automated program. He had to keep up appearances for the plan to work.

He flew through the magcon field and landed like a dainty butterfly would. It was then he realized how effeminate that was. He set the launch configuration so they could launch with little preparation; the hyperspace coordinates were already set for their escape vector as well as the blaster cannons primed and ready to fire. Once the configuration was set up to run he walked back to the cargo bay and unlocked the cell and made sure the Blackfire was still in her binders.

"Listen to me very carefully," Harry said to the group of teens and Blackfire, "follow my lead and don't say anything. Pretend that you're mute or that you speak another language if you need to. Let me and Ordo do the talking. If everything goes correctly then we should be in and out of there without a fight."

"What about Blackfire?" Robin asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Harry replied ambiguously as the boarding ramp lowered and he led Blackfire by gunpoint. Harry's probe droid settled itself on his right shoulder like a trained raptor would to its master when commanded. HK and Ordo followed behind him with their weapons in a rested position. Not wanting to get left behind the four teens joined them and followed only a few steps behind them.

They walked along but they couldn't help but look around and stare at some of the Centaurians that were looking at the group with distrust, not that they didn't blame them considering that three of the individuals around Blackfire were armed to the teeth and had bags that the Titans didn't know what was inside them. They entered an elevator at the far side of the hangar that served as a portcullis. One short ride later they entered the internal portion of the facility. The guards pointed them over towards an intake section.

Inside the intake, department was a guard behind glass doing paperwork, more than likely a secretary. "Your purpose for being here?" the secretary asked from behind the glass, not even looking up.

"Claiming a bounty," Harry replied.

"For?" he asked as he stamped some digital paperwork with his signature.

"Kommand'r of Tamaran."

The guard's eyes immediately shot to the group in front of him. Behind his mask, he was absolutely shocked. He immediately brought up a screen that accessed the database that had the records of all inmates who had come in for processing. "That's impossible, we already have Kommand'r in custody."

"Then who is this then?" Harry asked with sarcasm.

The secretary looked at both the shaded, monocolored image on the screen and the teenaged Tamaranian standing in front of him in a comedic head turning motion. If it weren't for the fact that this was a serious situation and operation that required his full attention, he would have burst out laughing at the visual humor. "I... uh... I need to call the warden."

"Please do so quickly, I want to get paid."

The guard quickly tapped buttons on his console before putting his hand to his head and said, "Sir, there's a bounty hunter turning in a bounty and we've run into a problem... No, the hunter is not violent... I am unsure if we are mistaken about one of our inmates or not... No, I'm looking at an image of the Tamaranian Kommand'r here on my console and it looks like her doppelganger right in front of me... Yes, I've checked and it is not a holographic projection. If it is it's the most advanced one I've ever seen."

"Hold on, did you say that you already had someone by the name of Kommand'r in the system?" Harry asked.

"One second, sir." He then turned his attention to Harry, "According to our records we brought in Kommand'r who was hiding out on a backwater planet."

"If that was the case, why wasn't the bounty called off? And is there the possibility that the prisoner you received was a false flag?"

The guard's eyes widened as he then fumbled in asking, "Sir, is it possible that we grabbed the wrong person?"

Harry reached out with the Force and attempted to influence the guard's mind, "It would be fair to do a prisoner exchange if you have the wrong person."

The guard's eyes glazed over and parroted, "It would be fair to do a prisoner exchange." The guard snapped out of it when yelling was heard through the headset. "But it's fair, sir." There was more shouting on the other side. "You are to turn over the Tamaranian immediately!"

"And here I was hoping that we would be able to conduct business like professionals," Harry said right before pulling his sidearm from his thigh holster and acquired the guard and let loose a burst of blaster fire that cut right through the 'protective' glass and killed the guard before he could pull the alarm. "And there goes Plan A," he lamented. Harry looked at his probe droid, "Hack it, find her." The droid quickly zipped over to the console and started working. He then tossed the one duffle bag to HK, "Get to the main reactor, you know what to do."

"Declaration: It will be spectacular! I will not disappoint you, master!" HK shouted in glee after slinging the bag over his shoulder.

HK raised his rifle and aimed it down the hallway that led further into the facility. "He'll be ok, right?" Ordo asked. Shortly after they heard blaster fire coming from further away.

"Oh yeah, he's going to be perfectly fine," Harry replied dismissively as they heard someone yell 'aiee!'.

While Ordo and Harry were having some bander and the probe droid hacked the terminal, the Titans were still in shock at the violence that the bounty hunter displayed in eliminating the guard and immediately flipped from being violent and uncaring to borderline comedic. "But... how did you... how could you kill him?!" Beast Boy said in disgust, speaking for the other three Titans. Even Blackfire was a bit shocked, not angry, just surprised.

"Do you want your friend back or not?" Harry asked. When they didn't say anything he continued, "Her father gave me carte blanche meaning I will do whatever it takes to complete my contract. Think of me what you will, I don't care, but I have a contract to complete." Harry then tapped a button on his gauntlet and the binders on Blackfire released. Harry turned to her, "Don't run off, you got your sister into this mess, you're going to get her out of it. You owe her that much." Data then streamed onto his HUD revealing the entire station's blueprints as well as prisoner assignments. Harry forwarded the information to Ordo. "Form up. We've got a cell number. Stick close and move quickly. Bob has the surveillance feed on a feedback loop but it won't be long until they figure it out and put the entire station into lockdown and I would rather be on the way out when they do that, or gone entirely."

They lined up near one of the large blast doors that slowly began to open. "Ready to show them what a real Mando can do, ner vod?" Ordo asked.

 **{"Terrify!", Jeff Williams. RvB Season 10 OST.}**

"Indeed, brother," Harry replied as he racked his E-11 blaster rifle. The door finally opened fully to reveal several guards holding weapons and very confused expressions. Seeing the weapons in their hands they immediately rose theirs, but before the guards could issue a command or fire at them, Harry and Ordo did first, spraying the entire corridor with blaster bolts hitting every guard all without a single bolt not going astray. "Go!" Harry shouted as he started to run down the corridor, Ordo following in step next to him.

The Titans took a second to figure out what was going on, then continued after the two armored men. They charged down corridor after corridor, making turns that didn't make sense, as if the entire prison was designed to be as confusing as possible, making any escape attempt without a map extremely difficult. Harry and Ordo killed many guards that attempted to intercept them with their blasters, much to the Titans' dismay. The Titans also got in on the action. Robin using his staff and birdarangs to non-lethally take out guards. Cyborg using his sonic cannon to either knock out enemies outright or slam them into the metal corridors of the prison. Raven used her magic to knock out enemies or half phase them through walls leaving them struggling to escape a completely inescapable prison of metal. Beast Boy had long since transformed into a large ape, throttling guards as well. Blackfire was the only "Titan" who really went for the kill by firing overpowered star bolts to kill her targets.

The prison was a massive station that was a thousand meters high, although that height was because of the four spires that jutted out from both ends which formed the eight low-security wings with the single, and largest wing being in the center of the station consisting of high-security prisoners. The lower security of these high security being on the outer portions and the more dangerous being in the inner rings. If someone were to take a look at it and make a few comparisons would see that it looked a lot like _Star Trek_ 's Deep Space Nine space station. Except with straight spires instead of slightly hooked spires. The furthest ring was considered an absolute safe zone as that was where guard barracks were located as well as hangars for prison transports and other third-party transporters to deliver their prisoners. The entire station bristled with weapons to discourage attacks or jailbreaks. In between each ring "block" is a single tram system at each of the cardinal points to allow transport of both prisoners as well as supplies; this served a dual purpose of the aforementioned things, as well as a way to corral inmates, should a riot in an attempt to escape occur.

This information was all in the back of Harry's mind as he played out his plan. The team moved towards the tram and quickly captured it, the rest of the station still unaware of what was completely going on as they were fed a report of weapon misfires and radio transmission corruption. It was working, for now, however, Harry knew that it wouldn't last forever, especially as they worked their way further into the prison.

The worked their way through the fewer security wings and made their way to the maximum-security block (see: ring). It was then Harry received a transmission. **"Declaration: Master, I have completed setting the charges on the reactor,"** HK reported.

"Good," Harry replied. "Head back towards the _Iona_ and head towards the waypoint for Plan B."

" **Query: Are you having trouble, master? Should I head towards your position?"**

"No. Our ruse of this just being glitches in the system and idiot guards misfiring won't last long. They'll switch channels and figure out what's really going on, especially when we reach the cell in the cell block. Fall back and prepare for Plan B."

" **Acknowledgement: As you wish, master. Addendum: The signal for the detonator is synced to your frequency to be detonated on your command."** And the channel was closed.

"So, what is this 'Plan B'?" Robin asked as the high-security doors opened to the high-security area that Cyborg had hacked from the console beside it.

Harry checked his rifle's power pack. "Let's put it this way, you're going to need those rebreather masks. Try not to break them." This left the Titans who couldn't survive in hard vacuum slightly uneasy.

When the doors opened, there wasn't a single soul there. This was disturbing and made the team uneasy. "I don't like this," Ordo commented, speaking for the group.

Harry led the group forward, Ordo slightly behind him. "Guards have very little control over this area outside of keeping them inside the block. From a new employee orientation manual, that area is primarily patrolled by inmates who can keep the peace inside it. According to the manual: 'it's corrupt, however, the inmates in our pocket keep the block in line, allowing us to keep a hands-off approach'."

"So, we should keep our eyes open for inmates?" Raven asked.

"If they're on the guards' payroll they'll be coming to kill, you should do the same."

Ordo and Harry leveled their weapons in front of them and made their way down the eerily silent corridors. Finally, after nerve-racking, silent corridors, they made their way to a large antechamber of which there were dozens of cells surrounding a central cafeteria area with a large guard tower in the center. "I thought you said there wouldn't be any guards here?" Beast Boy asked.

"I said there would be less here than in the outer areas as they are patrolled and enforced for the most part by the inmates. These guys are just there to keep an eye on them, nothing more," Harry replied. "Should the inmates try to make a break for it they call for reinforcements and completely shut down any forms of exit from the block."

Robin stomped forward to grab Harry by his chest plate and pulled him close. "Are you telling me we've come on a one-way trip?" he angrily yelled into the faceplate.

Harry grabbed him by the wrist and pried it off. "Why do you think I told you to keep those rebreather masks intact and why HK was sent back to the ship: Plan B."

"And Plan B is…?" Beast Boy asked, repeating the same question that Robin had asked not long ago.

"You'll know it when you see it." That didn't sit well with any of them. "Just be ready. This way," Harry pointed his rifle towards the common area. They walked down the stairs that led into the common area and all eyes were upon them, prisoner and guard alike.

"I don't like this," Cyborg commented.

At that moment, a guard jumped in front of them. "Stop right there-!" However, he was cut off by a blaster bolt that killed him instantly. Almost immediately the lights dimmed and were replaced by a red light and klaxon alarm. The prisoners backed away slightly before trying to advance towards the ones who had weapons. AKA the team.

Harry fired his rifle on its full auto setting and sprayed the floor before their feet. The metal turned to scorched slag in front of them. "Back off," Harry warned. He then nodded towards the now deceased guard, "or you'll be next. I have no issue killing scum such as yourselves." They held their hands up in the universal sign of 'we give up.' He then turned to the team, "We need to move quickly, that alarm will summon more of them."

" **Statement: I am in position now, master,"** HK said over the radio.

"Good. Fire on my command." He moved with the team behind him, the Titans primarily watching the prisoners to make sure they didn't make any moves on them. They finally arrived at a cell whose door was reinforced to the point of absurdity.

"I should be able to hack it," Cyborg commented, already turning a finger into a probe to start hacking.

"We don't have time," Harry said as he drew his lightsaber and activated it, the snap-hiss bringing attention to it. He plunged it deep into the door and started to cut through the super-heavy metal like a red-hot knife through any plastic object. However, as the metal was of a particular type, it took much longer to cut through it than it would to go through a metal alloy like durasteel.

"What weapon is that?" Blackfire asked.

"Rescue now, questions later." It took him a solid three minutes to cut through the metal to make a hole large enough for someone to stand up in without ducking. He extinguished his lightsaber and clipped it back to his belt. He called upon the Force and ripped the cut oval of the door away from the door itself. The thickness was at least two feet thick. Harry approached the cell and ducked walked inside. "Koriand'r?" Harry asked the darkness in English, knowing that she did know English.

"Who are you? What do you want?" a girl's voice asked back in English. The tone suggested that her will had long since been broken.

"I'm here to rescue you on behalf of your father."

"My… father?" she unsurely asked. Unsure of whether this was a figment of her imagination or reality.

"Yes. He paid a pretty credit to hire me to come for you. He wishes you to be returned to him out of the Centaurians' grasp."

"Who are you?" she asked as she looks up at him, her still lying down on the slab of metal that could only by definition called a 'bed'.

"While I would hate to sound cliché, you can just call me Prince Charming at the moment," he joked. He extended a hand to the Tamaranian princess. "Now, shall we leave this wretched place?"

She took his hand and stood up alongside him. His helmet had its night vision module active and he saw her destitute state despite her being in Centaurian hands for so little time. Tattered orange prison garb that looked both ripped from rough handling and possibly other things. She looked to be in a pitiful state and if anyone else were in this state they would probably be looking for any way to end it all.

"Yes," she replied.

"Odd question, but can you survive in hard vacuum?" Harry asked nonchalantly.

"I can fly in space, yes."

"Good enough for me." Harry led her out of the cell and into the light to which she squinted in, despite the fact that it was dimmed red light.

Robin saw his fellow Titan and asked, "Starfire?"

"Escape now, catch up later," Harry interrupted. "Something's not right," Harry said as he swept his rifle from side to side. The inmates were gone, or at least in hiding. He caught one inmate in the corner of his eye hiding in their cell. "Be ready for anything," Harry said, already bringing down and activating his rangefinder.

The speakers cracked as a voice said, **"Attention assailants, you are surrounded and there is no escape."** Harry looked to see many drones and other guards wielding weapons all pointed at them. **"Lay down your weapons now and surrender. If you do not, you will be fired upon and you will certainly die."**

Robin noticed Starfire shaking. "What is it?" he asked her.

"That's the warden of the prison," Starfire replied.

"He sounds like a cheerful person," Ordo dryly joked.

Harry activated his commlink. "HK, activate the PDCs and load the PPAP rounds and fire at the following targets," Harry ordered, using his rangefinder to mark targets making a large circle.

" **Confirmation: Weapons locked and loaded, target coordinates received. Moving into position now,"** HK confirmed.

"Uhh, what are pap rounds?" Beast Boy asked.

"Plasma Phasic Armor Piercing rounds," Harry replied. "I would hold on to something if I were you."

Before they could ask why bullets came streaming through the prison's walls in a 'curtain of steel' that sliced both through the metal of the walls and floors alike. Any of the guards, drones, and inmates that were in the way were shredded. The walls groaned as the mass of the hull of the station was threatening to break away, but was being held by a thread.

"HK, pull away and get ready for extraction." The stream of bullets stopped. "Put on your masks and make sure they're secure." Harry pulled out a detonator rod and flicked the cap covering the button. All but the Tamaranian sisters as they were able to withstand hard vacuum. Harry then turned to Raven, "Can you create a bubble to keep yourselves in place?"

"Why do you ask?" the mystic asked.

"Explosive decompression." Her eyes widened and she immediately put up a bubble around the Titans.

Harry and Ordo checked their armor to ensure they were pressure sealed. Once Ordo nodded Harry pressed the button. There was a muffled explosion on the other side of the station. The reaction was immediate. The shield surrounding the station, the same that had been exploited by the phasic rounds, faded away. As it fell away air rushed from the open 'wound' in the station at an incredulous speed. Those that weren't secured, like the team were secured as both Harry and Ordo were currently attached to the metal floor with magnetic boots and the Titans with the magic bubble.

The last thing that held the shredded wall in place broke and it flew away with the rest of the air. Along with it went the bodies of the guards and the heaps of drones. Any prisoners that weren't dead were sucked out into space. A ship then flew into the space where the wall used to be and opened a hatch with a magcon field containing it. Harry pointed towards the ship and ignited his jetpack with controlled bursts to fly towards the ship. Ordo followed immediately behind him as he also ignited his own jetpack. The Tamaranian sisters were next as they flew right behind the bounty hunters, carrying the rest of the Titans as Raven lowered her magic shield.

Once they all entered the craft Ordo closed the hatch. Harry had already made his way towards the cockpit and took over the controls from HK. "Hold on unless you want to get a concussion!" Harry shouted from the cockpit. He didn't waste any time in punching the engines to the max and flew as to the plan that was established beforehand. Harry was slammed into his seat despite the compensator installed.

"Statement: I took care of the turrets along our preplanned flight path," HK reported.

"And this is why you're my favorite, HK," Harry commented as he flew around an asteroid that gave him the vector to enter hyperspace. Once he cleared the mass shadow he activated the hyperdrive. Once the blue tunnel of hyperspace was there once more Harry let out a baited breath. He hadn't expected too much trouble, but at least the hard part of the mission was over. "Next stop, Tamaran."

XxXxXxX

 _Tamaran. 10 hours later._

The _Iona_ dropped out of hyperspace near the edge of the mass shadow of Tamaran. The flight was short and the orbital sight of the planet was… 'eh' to Harry. He'd seen prettier. Alderaan was quite pretty from orbit. Even Earth was to an extent. As the _Iona_ approached they were hailed and once Harry had declared who he was and his cargo, he was permitted to land.

He was given coordinates to land at the palace itself. He handed off the landing procedures to HK and walked back to the boarding ramp. It lowered and standing there before him was the King himself. "Greetings, bounty hunter," he greeted in his native tongue. He looked behind Harry to see both Starfire and Blackfire were following, Blackfire trying to hide behind her sister. "I see fortune favored you and you have returned my daughters."

"I have kept my end of the bargain," Harry replied. "And my payment?"

The king snapped his fingers and two royal guards rolled out a grav-cart that had bars of precious metals and gems piled high. "Will this suffice?"

Harry took a look and looked as impassive as possible. The king had well overpaid him and then some. He could live handsomely and not have to worry about an expense for the rest of his days. "It will. Place it in the cargo hold." The king nodded and snapped his fingers once more the guards pushed the cart up the boarding ramp and led into the ship. While Harry was taking care of business the rest of the Titans had come down from the ship. He spotted them as he walked with the guards and stopped. "I would take the time to say goodbye to your friend."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"I am unsure if her father will let her leave the planet for some time. After all, she is an 'intergalactic fugitive'. Her people will be able to hide her much more effectively than you ever could." Before any of the Titans could voice a reply, he went inside his ship. Harry watched the guard duo unload the payment into strongboxes that were already secured. Once they were off his ship he headed back to the cockpit to prepare for the trip back to Earth to drop the Teen Titans off. Ordo took a seat next to Harry. "You know, I'm almost tempted to pawn off these kids to you to deliver back to Earth."

"I'd probably kill them," Ordo joked. "Spacing them more likely."

"You know, I thought the exact same thing."

"No shit?" The two laughed. "So, what are you going to do with your cut?"

"I don't know. I guess I'll think of something when the time comes."

"Maybe you should pay back Sabine by bankrolling an op," Ordo suggested.

"Perhaps. Maybe that will get me on her good side."

There were footsteps on the floor that didn't belong to HK. "We've said our goodbyes," Robin stated.

"You took your damn time," Harry rebutted.

"What? You don't like saying goodbye?" Beast Boy asked. "Do you have a problem with that?"

It was at this time he let loose words of wisdom once taught to him by another. "If you never say goodbye, then you've never really left." With this, he activated the take-off procedures and leaped into space leaving Tamaran behind. He calculated the coordinates for Earth and once more jumped to lightspeed. "Plus," Harry added, "I have a feeling that you'll see her a lot earlier than you think."

"What makes you say that?" Raven asked.

"I just have a feeling, that's all."

 **The end.**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, a full-blown one-shot done and over with. Would you believe me if I told you this has been sitting on my computer for close to a year? What if I told you this is a prototype for another fic that I'm working on? Well, it's all true.**

 **So that fic I mentioned? Well, this was its first incarnation. The one that I want to make is a Harry Potter/Star Wars fic (no surprise there) with a bounty hunting, Mando Harry as the center of deviant events in the prequel trilogy all starting with Episode I onwards. This whole Teen Titans part? This was just an idea that I wanted to spitball and here it is. I don't have any real notes to make in this installment; I mean I could do the Mando to English translations, but I think you guys are resourceful enough to look them up on Google. Plus, if you don't know them you really don't lose anything, it's just a little addition to selling the whole Mando thing.**

 **But what do you guys think? Interesting? No? Let me know down below as you do. And look forward to this teased idea I got cooking up. I might just post the first chapter that totally hasn't been sitting on my computer for close to a year waiting to be continued (i.e.: chapter 2) here in the repository, so you might want to keep your eyes open for that.**

 **But until next time!**


	34. A HP x Life is Strange (Emissary) 1shot

**Alright, so this one I've been debating on where I should put it in my collection of stories. I'll tell you why and the whole concept behind it; well, after a short tale that is.**

 **So, I've had this idea for a while and wanted to write it down. But after seeing a more recent fic of a similar nature I was forced to rethink it. To make it more original. More… mine. To those who have played** _ **Life is Strange**_ **knows that there is a whole plot of time travel, but would it surprise you to say that destiny is also explored? Think about it. Why else would the world be out to kill Chloe every chance it gets after Max rewinds time to save her? She is destined to die and the timeline keeps trying to correct itself by killing her, even if it means wiping out the entire town to do so. As you know, the canonical ending for** _ **Life is Strange**_ **is to let Chloe die by going back in time as the devs didn't seriously think people would choose the "save Chloe" ending (which is beyond selfish, by the way).**

 **So, the prompt for this story:  
What if Max was about to choose the "save Chloe" ending and Fate/Death decided to send their emissary to change her mind?**

 **Sounds interesting, right? Well, let's get right down into it, shall we?**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling and** _ **Life is Strange**_ **belongs to Square Enix. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

Maxine Caulfield stood on the edge of the cliff that overlooked the small, coastal town of Arcadia Bay standing near the remains of the lighthouse that once proudly stood over the town bathing the sea with its guiding light. But now, it was a crumpled mess of stone and masonry. The town below was less than an hour away from being entirely annihilated by a superstorm that had never been seen before. It wasn't a hurricane as those weather patterns were very specific and had an eye miles wide. This was more like a massive F5 (if not larger) tornado that spewed seawater into the air which bathed the town in a briny downpour not unlike rain.

But this wasn't the first odd event to happen in Arcadia Bay the last week. Going in reverse order to this climax of destruction, there was a double moon seen in the sky during the Vortex Club's End of the World party, there was an unscheduled total eclipse that happened over the town and nowhere else, and a snowstorm in the middle of October. And that didn't include any of the odd behaviors that animals, both wild and domesticated, were having. And of course, that didn't include Max herself.

Max had seen her best friend Chloe Price die in a bathroom by Nathan Prescott, son of the wealthiest family in town. She had then traveled back in time to save Chloe by pulling a fire alarm. She had prevented the suicide of Kate Marsh by repeatedly traveling back in time to the point where it physically hurt her. She had saved Chloe's life multiple times by time traveling like preventing her from being shot by herself via ricochet, getting her foot out of a set of railroad tracks that they thought was a smart idea to walk on, and finally from her own teacher Mark Jefferson from shooting her in the head. But the oddities didn't end there. She traveled in between parallel timelines where things were vastly different from a quadriplegic Chloe begging for death from her best friend to reexperiencing the Dark Room over, and over, and over again. She had walked through MC Escher's wet dream of a nightmare to see some really weird stuff.

But now, she stood next to Chloe watching the entire town slowly getting swallowed up by the storm to end all storms. In her hands, she held the photo of the butterfly that she took the day that she 'awakened' her powers which brought on all of this. She could go back in time, like what she did with the old photo of her and Chloe when they were still in junior high to make sure that her biological father was late to the bus, therefore preventing his death but at the same time dooming Chloe to a life of paralysis where she begged for death. But at the same time, she could tear that photo up and let the town burn (metaphorically of course) and she could have Chloe all to herself. They were best friends, but after kissing her a few days ago, perhaps they could be more than that?

But Chloe snapped her out of her thoughts. "You could use that photo to change everything right back to when you took that picture. All that would take is for me to… to…," Chloe tried to say the next word but started to cry, the briny rain obscuring the actual tears she shed.

"Fuck that!" Max shouted. "No… no way! You are my number one priority now. You are all that matters to me."

"I know. You proved that over and over again… even though I don't deserve it. I'm so selfish… not like my mom… Look what she had to give up and live through and she did. She deserves so much more than to be killed by a storm in a fucking diner. Even my step… father deserves her alive. There are so many more people in Arcadia Bay who should live… way more than me."

"Don't say that… I won't trade you."

"You're not trading me. Maybe you've just been delaying my real destiny… Look at how many times I've almost died or actually died around you. Look at what's happened to Arcadia Bay ever since you first saved me. I know I've been selfish, but for once I think I should accept my fate… our fate…"

"Chloe," Max begged her friend to think 'differently'.

"Max, you finally came back to me this week, and you did nothing but show your love and friendship. You made me smile and laugh like I haven't done in years. Wherever I end up after this… in whatever reality… all those moments between us were real, and they will always be ours. No matter what you choose, I know you will make the right decision."

Max exasperatedly gestured and replied, "Chloe… I can't make this choice…"

"No, Max," Chloe said as she grabbed her friend by the shoulders. "You're the only one who can."

Max looked down at the photo in Chloe's hand and stared at it. Her eyes continually shifted from the photo, to her, and to the town. She wanted her friend (and maybe lover) to live. She wanted Joyce and David to live. Sure, David was an ass, but in that alternate timeline where Chloe did die and she told him the truth (where he subsequently killed Jefferson) she could see the hurt and pain that Chloe's death had on him; he loved her as if she was his own daughter, even if he was a bit harsh. Joyce was like another mom to her and was the most loving and kindhearted woman she had ever met outside of her own mom. Warren was the epitome of what some would call a beta male, but he was still her friend and didn't deserve to die this way. Kate was still in the local hospital under observation as her parents lined up a more long-term residence closer to home; she didn't deserve to die this way after dodging death. The only people that deserved death were Jefferson and Nathan. Everyone else didn't deserve to die in this storm, even Victoria. In another life she was apparently a good person.

She looked down once more at the photo and took it, she started to tear at the thicker end of the Polaroid when a crash of lightning exploded next to them. The flash blinded them and Max stopped the tear, still leaving the image intact.

But, instead of exploding like they expected to, they heard a posh British voice complaining of all things as the rain stopped in place, the swirling mass of the tornado froze, and everything else just stopped. "Well, it took them long enough. So long that I was almost too late!" he complained as the flash disappeared to show a shaggy, black-haired man with green eyes walking towards them who looked to be in his early twenties. He was dressed like that fictional character John Constantine: trench coat, button-up shirt and loosened tie, slacks, and what looked like steel-toed leather dress shoes. He looked up towards the heavens and shouted, "Next time you want me to do your bidding on this short of a timeline, give me the TL;DR version!" He then mumbled, "Bloody immortals."

"Who are you?" Max asked carefully as she stood up from her once prone position on the ground from the lightning.

"The name's Harry Potter, today I'm Fate's bitch and lackey," he replied. "Although, normally I'm Death's lackey," he muttered as he pulled a pack of cigarettes out and lit one with not a lighter, but his middle finger after snapping with it. He took a deep puff and walked over to the now standing Chloe. "So, you're Chloe Price?" he asked rhetorically as he flicked off some of the ash. He eyed her up and down and added, "You don't look like much."

"The fuck you talking about you posh, British fuck?!" Chloe exclaimed. She went to throw a fist but not only did he dodge it without pause, but froze her in place. "What the-?"

"There's no call for that," he said as he walked around her. Almost appraising her. "What I meant was, you don't seem like it would be worth wiping out an entire town to kill you."

"The town….?" Max said trying to mull over that statement. "You! You're the one that caused this storm!"

"Do you have ears, kid? I said I'm Fate and Death's lackey."

"And bitch," Chloe quipped trying to get some kind of upper hand.

"That's enough out of you," he said. "Don't make me zip your mouth up like a zipper because trust me, I can and will do it if you keep this up."

"What do you want?" Max asked finally.

"Finally, we get the right question," he said as he took another puff. "You see, I'm a bit of a freelance agent who works with certain people to do certain tasks that they can't directly intervene with. A third-party outsource job, if you will."

"What do you mean?" Max asks.

"You see, there are these… beings that live outside our reality, that look down here like it's a bloody sitcom. Let's just call them… gods for the sake of time and ease of understanding."

"Gods?" Chloe asked. "As in the Lord God Almighty?"

"Little 'g' gods, although he is one of them. He created you and me, but he has managers as he has other things to worry about without having to micromanage you guys. He pays quite well, and the benefits are wonderful." He then muttered as he tapped his chin, "I should see about getting a part-time gig with him."

"What do gods have to do with this?" Chloe interrupted that line of thinking.

"Remember what I said? These beings see your lives like an unscripted sitcom in which they add the laugh tracks in post. Sometimes, these beings get bored and decide to bestow… gifts upon certain people to both mess with them and to be entertained. Why do you think there are such things as psychics and magicians? Their antics amuse these beings. But sometimes these beings to a little too far and we end up with something like this."

"What are you talking about?"

Harry could only sigh. This girl just didn't listen. "In this case, Chronos, otherwise known as the Greek god of time, decided he was bored and bestowed the ability to travel through time to your young friend Maxine. They did expect you to get into hijinks and allowed it. But you see, she trod into another two entities' territory without realizing it. Fate and Death."

"Fate and Death?" Max asked, wanting a clearer explanation.

"Do they not teach you to critically think in school anymore?" Harry sighed. "Fate and Death work hand-in-hand with one another. All living things must die as Death declares, keeping the natural order in line. Fate decides WHEN they die. You see, several days ago your friend Chloe was destined to die on that day." He then directly looked at Max. "Then you decided to go back in time and save your friend. An admirable action, but as you can see it has had consequences. Your friend is overdue with meeting with Saint Peter, Charon, or whatever you believe in. Death has been plotting how to do that; why else would you keep dying, Chloe?"

"Death has been actively trying to kill me?" Chloe squeaked out as she now realized that she was no longer frozen.

"It doesn't take much for these beings to bend reality to suit their purposes, like changing lines of code to get a different result in a video game. There are some who can bend it to a startling scary degree, like Nyarko-chan. But Death and Fate have the last word on living beings."

"Nyarko-chan?" Max repeated. Then after a moment of thought, it came to her. "Nyarlathotep!"

"What?" Chloe asked, still reeling from the realization that she was marked for death BY Death.

"The Crawling Chaos! One of H. P. Lovecraft's creations. It's real?!"

"She doesn't like being called an 'it', and Lovecraft was only given a small snippet of what she really is and misrepresented her in his tales," Harry replied.

"Misrepresented?" Max asked.

"Yeah. She's a trickster and a bit of a pervert, but fun to be around. Throws wild house parties. Half of the party is the house itself. MC Escher's wet dream became a reality. I can still remember the time we killed a bunch of Eldritch horrors with only a crowbar. Good times, good times," Harry remembered with mirth. "But back to the topic of discussion. You ever see those Final Destination movies?" Both of them shook their heads 'no'. "Shame. Well, I'll explain it anyway as it works the same way essentially. Death was manipulating reality to ensure that you died. When you got stuck in that railroad track it was because she enlarged the gap just long enough for you to slip in it. She carefully manipulated the bullet ricochet so that it would hit a vital organ or blood vessel once it penetrated your chest. You as a quadriplegic pleading for an assisted suicide from your bestie when she visited that reality."

"What?" Chloe asked.

"Oh, you didn't tell her?" Harry asked Max. She ashamedly looked away. "Well, young Max here decided to do you a solid and went back in time to the day that good old Billy died, you know, your biological father. Said action created a parallel reality. But her intervention in keeping him from leaving another hour caused him to survive."

"That's great!" Chloe said with excitement. "But, why isn't he alive then if she saved him?" She was obviously confused.

"That's because she changed it back," Harry admitted.

"WHAT?!" she screeched at Max. "You allowed Will- Dad to die!?"

"I had to!" Max shouted back, tears in her eyes. This time there wasn't a storm of brine to hide them. "Because… Because…"

"Because of what?"

Max finally collapsed to her knees and more tears were shed. "You were in an accident on your sixteenth birthday."

"Ok, and?"

"You were left little more than a moving head on a paralyzed body." Chloe's eyes slowly widened. "When I visited you and learned about the accident I was shocked, but you were still alive. William and Joyce were still together and David was still a security guard but nowhere near Joyce. As I was about to leave you asked me- No, begged me- to kill you with an overdose."

"What?" Chloe asked as tears ran down her cheeks. "I asked you… to… kill me?"

Max nodded, unable to say the actual words. Harry leaned down to her so that he was a mere inch from her ear. "Do you want to know what she did?" he asked, egging her on. She looked at Max. "Well, go ahead and ask her."

Chloe swallowed what felt like bile and asked, "What did you do?"

"I walked over to the knob that controlled the flow of drugs," she recounted as if confessing to a murder. "You looked at me with approval and nodded. I started to turn the knob but stopped. I couldn't. I just couldn't do it! I couldn't just kill you!" she cried. She stood up, the photo still in her hands, the bottom still slightly torn. "I ran out and you were cursing me. Cursing that I wouldn't end your life of misery. So, I went back and let everything happen as it did before. William died and you weren't paralyzed anymore. I couldn't bear to lose you again."

Chloe walked over and hugged Max. "It's alright," she tried to comfort her friend. "If I were in the same situation I would have had just as a difficult time making a decision as tough as that."

Max looked down at the photo once more and gripped it as if she was going to tear it right then and now. "Up, up, up," Harry said, getting her to stop. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Well, you're not me," Max retorted.

"Indeed, I'm not. You think that you are unassailable in your convictions, but consider the consequences and cost of your decision," Harry ominously said.

"Consequences?" Chloe asked.

"To have fallen so far and learned nothing," he mused towards Max, "that is your greatest failure. Everything that you have done has had consequences. What's to say that this decision won't have any either?" During the entirety of Max's confession, Harry had been laying salt down on the ground. He lit a lighter that he didn't have before and dropped it into the salt pile. Fire immediately leaped forth around them creating a ring of fire, Harry too was inside it. The flames went higher until it went over both of their heads. "I have been gifted foresight into the events that will come to pass if you continue with that decision." Images began to appear in the flames.

Max recognized this image, it was of her house on her street. Only, it was a smoking crater. "You recognize this place? Good. Tomorrow, you will go towards your parents' house and will stay there for a day. You leave just as an explosion from a gas main wipes out the entire street killing not only your parents, Maxine, but all the neighbors in a three-block radius; not just that but many firefighters will die to save as many people as possible. Hundreds will die because of Chloe." The images shifted to a completely devastated Seattle. It was a frozen wasteland. "You will then head to Seattle where you will stay for a few days to mourn your losses. A record freak snowstorm will move in which will leave the entire city under seven feet of snow. No one will be able to get out for food. No one will be able to get water because of frozen pipes. Power will die after power lines weighed down by snow collapse and countless thousands will die of hypothermia, starvation, and dehydration; men, women, and children alike. Those that survive will do so because of… unsavory methods and means."

This left a sick feeling in Chloe's stomach. Yet once more the images shift to Los Angeles, they could tell because of the Hollywood sign, but this Los Angeles looked like the largest steamroller had just paved the city over. Harry continued on, "After your icy encounter which you barely escape, you head to Los Angeles. You aren't there for more than two days before the largest, world record earthquake flattens the entire city. Thank to Max, you barely miss it and are on the outskirts of town when it happens. Good for you and all, but millions are left injured, dead, and homeless." The image died away and it was replaced with a planet covered in what looked like snow, but it wasn't. It was ash. In the middle of Yellowstone was the infamous supervolcano caldera foaming at the 'mouth' with magma that scientists have been warning for years was overdue to blow its load, no pun intended. "Eventually, Death gets sick and tired of your shit and detonates the Yellowstone supervolcano killing tens of millions instantly or within hours. The ash is close enough to you that both of you die. The ash then covers the entire planet and causes another Ice Age causing even more to die leaving the human race with only a fraction of its population mostly located on the Equator." The flames die down and all that is left is a smoldering pile of salt. "Congratulations, you're the biggest mass killer since Hitler and a planet devastated all because you couldn't let your friend die like she was destined to." He leaned closer to Max, "How will you be able to live with death on this scale on your conscience?" He took a few steps away, looking at the devastation down below. "Genocide of the human race all because you have a lady boner for your friend."

"The human race-," Chloe trailed in shock.

"-extinct?" Max finished just as shocked.

"Yep," Harry confirmed. He turned around to face the girls. "And all you have to do is go back in time and allow her to die the day she was destined to," he specifically addressed Max.

"How will I know that Jefferson will face justice for what he's done to both Kate and Amber and all the other girls?" Max asked.

"Yeah, what about that sleazeball?" Chloe asked.

Harry sighed. "After you die Nathan will be taken into custody where his father can't really make a dead body disappear, especially with so many witnesses, so he makes his son take a plea deal and rats Jefferson out. He still gets five years in a minimum-security prison where he becomes Bubba's new prison bitch. The police raid what you've called the 'Dark Room' and arrest Jefferson on murder, abduction, and photographing explicit images of minors. He gets a life sentence for the murder and images alone but doesn't last long. After all, prisons, especially federal ones, aren't too kind to kiddie diddlers."

Chloe turned to Max and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Max, you have to go back and let me die," Chloe said with determination she hadn't had in a long time.

"B-but, I can't stand to lose you, not again," Max feebly replied.

Chloe slapped Max on the cheek hard enough to leave a red mark. "Max, pull your head out of your ass!" she yelled, shocking her friend. "Listen to me. I want you to let me die. I will not have the blood of the innocent on my hands because I was selfish. Do you seriously want to be known as the girl who doomed the human race?"

Max looked down, ashamed at what she was seriously thinking. "No."

"Take that picture, go back, and let me die," she ordered Max like David used to do to her. She then cupped her friend's cheek. "Max, I want you to know that this last week was wonderful. I got to have one last Scooby-Doo adventure with you. Thank you, for everything," she said right before kissing Max in what some of the more perverted mindset would consider 'hot'. When they parted Chloe said, "Now, go on Super Max, use those superpowers to save the world."

Max took the photo in both hands and focused on it. One moment she was there, the next, she was gone. Harry blinked and instead of a chaotic landscape, he saw that it was a bright, sunny day. He dropped the cigarette into the ground and snuffed it out. "So, she did choose right after all," he commented to the air next to him. He himself vanished from the cliffside and appeared in the realm of Equinox, Death's domain which Harry couldn't pronounce, hence Equinox.

He walked down the gray path that separated two sides of a massive, never-ending grove of fruit trees. On one side it was dark and the trees there glowed like ghosts in a graveyard, all transparent like ghosts were. On the other side was bright like a midsummer's day where there were fruit trees that looked healthy. As he walked down the path he saw fruits disappearing from the healthy trees and reappearing on the ghostly trees as ghosts themselves. This was the physical representation of life and death happening on one specific plane of existence, in this case, it was the one in which our certain time traveler lived in.

As he walked, he felt a presence next to him. He didn't look but said, "Was it really necessary to show them a false future?"

"No," an etheric female's voice replied. "But it worked, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did. I should have known it was a fake, you wouldn't stand for that much death all at once. It would cause you too much bothersome work," Harry jabbed.

"Watch it," the ethereal female prodded back.

"So, it's all over then?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Chronos has revoked her ability to time travel, therefore, preventing her from affecting both Fate and Death." They walked a bit further before a manila folder was shoved into his hands. "I have another assignment for you."

"When don't you?" he replied as he opened it.

 **The end.**

XxXxXxX

 **There we go, now wasn't that an interesting one-shot? I certainly thought so. It was fun writing this one as I got it done in a day. Part of the reason was that I had this floating around for a while in my mind. Now if only I could channel that towards other projects, am I right?**

 **In this one-shot, I had a few references. I'm not going to number them as I'll leave them as a little Easter Egg hunt for you guys. One was from "Hayore! Nyarko-san", an anime that I recommend; at the same time, it was a reference towards Quatermass's "It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)" (** id: 12748842 **), a read that I do recommend for the lulz, it's quite good. The second was a portion of Valkorian's speech to the Outlander about why he needs to take the Eternal Throne. The third was Kreia's talking down speech to the Jedi Council from KOTOR 2, by the way, great game, go play it. The fourth and final reference was to what Mutahar at SomeOrdinayGamers used to put in his warning at the beginning of his Deep Web exploration series about not wanting to be Bubba's roommate. Why he never kept that, I will never know; it was funny.**

 **But that's all I have for you this time. Let me know what you thought about it in the reviews. I'll see you guys next time in whatever I do next.**


	35. A HP x Toaru (Harry is Railgun) pilot

**So, I've been re-watching all of the** _ **To Aru**_ **franchise as of late following the "Chronexology" done by Misty Chronexia. If you yourself want to watch it, I'll leave the link to it here: (YouTube)** **watch?v=VHDZbbanqTo. It follows the chronological order of events as portrayed in both anime series as well as the movies (but not the manga or light novels, that's another nightmare for another time). And while doing so, I had an idea. What if I Rule 63'd (gender swapping) Harry Potter and said Harry is Mikoto Misaka, aka the Railgun?**

 **I've seen several different interpretations of this franchise when crossing it over with the HP universe. One of which is one where Harry is the Accelerator, this specific one made by Rage Addiction called "A Certain Scientific Accelerator, may also be a wizard" (** id: 11635055 **). I found that one to be quite decent and interesting despite the fact that it hasn't been updated since 2016.**

 **That aside, how am I going to do this, you might be asking yourself? Well, I had to do a lot of thinking prior to writing this all down but I think I got it. So here's what I was thinking originally: a fem!Harry was abandoned in Japan after the events that took place on that fateful Halloween night. After that, she was adopted and grew up as the Mikoto Misaka that we all know and love. But I decided to do something completely different. Perhaps this could be a differnent idea for another time.**

 **After doing a lot of thinking on this, I had to decide after what arc this would take place after. There are quite a few arcs in this franchise. There are a few that are exclusive to** _ **A Certain Scientific Railgun**_ **and others that are exclusive to** _ **A Certain Magical Index**_ **, and some that cross over with both with one providing more context that may have been missing from** _ **Index**_ **that was explained more in** _ **Railgun**_ **(and some that lead into one another). But after much consideration, I have decided to place this fic after the "Skill-Out Uprising" arc. Now, there are a few issues concerning this in canon as there's a lot of story arcs that happen after this that have only taken place in the Railgun and Index light novels, so consider this an alternate universe divergence from canon post "Skill-Out Uprising". So, in other words, nothing in the** _ **To Aru**_ **-verse will happen after Skill-Out Uprising until a clichéd plot device that's been used in HP based fanfics for a long time now happens. If you do want to take a peek at the arcs that are in the** _ **To Aru**_ **-verse, you can check it out on the anime's wiki, yes, it has one; it's web address is toarumajutsunoindex. wikia wiki/Unified_Story_Timeline. And if you're interested there's a graphical timeline at the bottom of the page. So, TL;DR, this takes place post-season 2 of the Index anime.**

 **I decided to involve the following characters in this story (pilot) from the** _ **To Aru**_ **series as being actively involved, not appearing for support at certain points or to make commentary:  
Mikoto Misaka (obviously), MISAKA Sister 10032 (and by extension the MISAKA network), Touma Kamijou, Index, Shirai Kuroko, Styil Magnus.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling and the** _ **To Aru**_ **franchise belongs to Kamachi Kazuma and the artists for the mangas (as there are different ones for Index, Railgun, and Accelerator). See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

 **Did you know that there's a Railgun PSP game as well as an Index PSP game? Cool, huh?**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

 _Narration._

XxXxXxX

 _A day in the life of one Mikoto Misaka was a strange one, even for her. She lived in Academy City, a city that was literally a city of schools where a good eighty percent of the population were students. She had a best friend and roommate that excessively obsessed over her to the point of being beyond creepy. She was rivals/friends with an older boy who somehow could survive being electrocuted by her with only his right hand. Said boy's roommate was a girl who supposedly holds the knowledge of over one hundred thirty thousand books filled with forbidden knowledge. She has ten thousand clones of herself that call her sister, around a few dozen at the most that actually still live in Academy City. And the piece de resistance? She was a Level 5 Electromaster Esper that went by the nickname Railgun. Quite the abnormal life, wouldn't you say? Strange in so many ways. However, she would rethink that statement after finding out new information. But how rude of me, perhaps we should start at the beginning of this tale. It all started a little like this._

XxXxXxX

 _Academy City, Tokiwadai Middle School._

Today felt off to Mikoto and she didn't know why. It had been a while since she had felt like this. It wasn't like the time when she had found out about both Project: Radio Noise and Project: Level 6 Shift, those had outright made her feel sick to her stomach when she found out about them. Nor was it the same feeling of off-ness that she felt during the whole STUDY situation. The last time this feeling came about was about four years ago. It had been an average midsummer's day in Academy City at the dorm she lived in during her time in grade school. During that time, she looked out of her window to see owls sitting on telephone wires just… staring at her. It was disturbing. So, she fried them with her low powered (at the time) railgun skill. Oddly enough the smell of burning owl smelled a lot like rotisserie chicken. After picking a couple dozen owls with ball bearings she removed from a lazy-susan that had been broken they left her alone. She didn't see another owl, except for the occasional barn owl that would stalk mice at night that she'd spot every now and again, again.

But that had been almost four years ago to this date and no other oddities, excluding those that happened around Touma Kamijou, had happened since. But now that same feeling had returned. That same feeling of wrongness. However, unlike the first time which had been in the summer, it was now late October. The only notable event that was coming up was Halloween, a holiday that wasn't widely observed in Japan, and by extent Academy City as it was a Western holiday rooted in Western religions. The next major holiday event that was widely observed was Christmas but that wouldn't be for almost two months. Did she miss someone's birthday?

Mikoto looked over her shoulder to glace at Shirai to see if she was giving her any dirty looks. She knew what to look for, her roommate had a very specific look to her when she was thinking inappropriately. Seeing that she wasn't giving her a dirty look she faced forward once more as she walked towards Tokiwadai.

"Sissy?" Kuroko asked with her head cocked. "Is there something wrong?"

Mikoto could only sigh as her friend kept getting more and more worked up. "Nothing, Kuroko," Mikoto replied.

Kuroko could only raise a slight eyebrow at her self-proclaimed sister. "Are you sure? You've been acting pretty odd since this morning."

"It's nothing."

"It sure doesn't seem like nothing."

"You're imagining things," Mikoto said as she and Kuroko crossed the street that was across from Tokowadai.

Kuroko pouted and hummed. "Well, the last time you acted this way was a few months ago when you started disappearing at night a lot."

That got Mikoto to pause in step right before continuing on. Kuroko definitely noticed that misstep. However, Kuroko didn't say anything as they walked into school. She did keep a close eye on her roommate and friend (and self-proclaimed lover) the entirety of the day. As for Mikoto, as the day went on, the feeling that she was having wasn't going away. In fact, the gut feeling she was having was getting worse. If she was going, to be honest, she had been having a slight gut feeling ever since the previous day, but it was easily ignored. Kind of like fluorescent bulbs when they made that buzzing noise. Today she just couldn't ignore it.

Luckily for her, the day passed with little fanfare. When she did eventually start walking home she was left alone with her thoughts due to Kuroko needing to do her Judgement duties. As she walked home she heard the meowing of a kitten. She looked down to see a little black cat. But this was no ordinary cat as there were only two cats that could stand to be around her. The first was that calico cat that Index girl always carried around with her named Sphinx. The second was a cat named Dog. That cat hung around MISAKA Sister 10032. This happened to be that cat.

"Greetings, Misaka says as she waves her right arm in greeting," the Misaka sister said with her hand raised. "It appears you have something on your mind, Misaka adds as she sees how distracted nee-san appears and cocks her head to the side."

Mikoto could only sigh at the verbal antics of her clone. The one who designated herself 10032 was one of the few Sisters that she had regular contact with. "There's nothing bothering me," Mikoto lied.

"You lie horribly, Misaka says as she only barely examines her nee-san's face for the treachery of lies while waving her hand flippantly." The Sister's face was absolutely stoic in the way it looked. That same look that the first Sister that she had come across had after eating her ice cream; the one that she put the Gekota button on. "Nee-san should set a good example by telling the truth, Misaka says with a sense of moral authority while nodding her head."

Mikoto could only sigh. "Fine, I know you wouldn't go telling others things that get spoken between us."

"Misaka would do no such thing, Misaka says in reassurance, promising that she won't tell anyone."

Mikoto leaned against the wall that the Sister was standing near. She let out another long sigh as to buy some time to thoroughly think her words through. "I've been feeling… uneasy as of late. Primarily today. All day today, I've been feeling as if something bad was going to happen."

"Number 10044 thinks you should relax more, Misaka says reassuringly. Number 10099 suggests going out on the town tomorrow to distract yourself from this feeling, Misaka suggests earnestly and sincerely. Misaka agrees with Number 10099's assessment."

Mikoto thought about that suggestion. Going out on a Saturday? It had been a while since she had done that for fun. When was the last time that she did genuinely did it for fun? After the Daihasei Festival after the whole Tree Diagram Remnant incident or the while space elevator ordeal. Roughly around the time that Touma returned from his mysterious trip to Italy. Things had just been so crazy lately. She had heard of the invasion that had been attempted recently as well as the opportunists of Skill-Out using the aftermath of the chaos to sew more chaos of their own. It was like she hadn't had any real rest for the last few weeks. And not the sleeping kind of rest, she had plenty of that. The relaxing kind of rest where you just took the day off and did nothing.

"You know what? You're right," Mikoto admitted. "It would be nice to take a day off just to think about nothing."

"Of course, Misaka is right, Misaka says smugly with a slight grin," the Sister responded with said expression. "Misaka thinks you should take someone else with you too, Misaka says feigning innocence while harboring her own agenda, hoping that Big Sister notices that Misaka is implying herself to be that someone else."

Mikoto could only stare at her sister, she had that same 'derpy', innocent face on once more. There was one big advantage of the Sisters' lack of subtlety, they always said what their intentions were as well as the normal subtleties that would be expressed facially or bodily. When they said it, they meant it even if they could not emotionally express the emotions they have to vocalize.

"Did you want to come along?" Mikoto asked.

"Misaka would love to, Misaka says joyfully seeing that her plotting has paid off to spend time with Big Sister."

She could only sigh at the enthusiasm the Sister vocalized. "Meet me at the gate of the Tokiwadai dorm I'm in at 8 am." She then paused before adding, "And can you dress is something other than my school uniform?" She and the other Sisters did wear the same uniform that she did, causing a few bouts of mistaken identity.

"Of course, Misaka says reassuringly. We are masters of disguise, Misaka boasts while placing her hands on her hips."

Mikoto could only raise an eyebrow at that. 'The Sisters, masters of disguise? This is something that I have to see,' she thought to herself (1). "Fine, don't be late," Mikoto said as she walked once more towards her dorm.

"Farewell, Misaka says as she bids farewell, waving her hand," the Sister said.

That night, Mikoto had the strangest dream. Or, well, it was more like a series of dreams. First, she was in a crib for some reason with a baby boy next to her. Then, there were sounds of fighting. The door exploded open and a man in a hooded robe pointed a stick at her and the boy and muttered some kind of bastardized Latin, what followed was a flash of green light. There was the large sound of an explosion and then she felt adrift, like driftwood on the ocean current.

Then, the oddest thing happened, she hears a young girl's voice, she couldn't have been any older than high school age based on the pitch alone. "Look at you, so vibrant and full of life," she said. "You don't belong here. Not yet, at least. Everyone is due here one day, but you aren't. This will be difficult, but I'm sure _HE_ would understand the circumstances. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention." (2).

Then she felt weight once more and her eyes opened to see the face of her panicking mother who suddenly looked relieved. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" her mother shouted both angrily and in relief. As if a great tragedy had just been averted.

She barely remembered this, but what had happened? Oh, right. She had tried to use her power to try and charge a battery on her favorite handheld device for the first time and it exploded in her face, literally. Apparently, she had just barely zapped the battery, and the small lithium-based battery blew up. Her heart had stopped that day but had been restarted by the doctors. Amazingly, she only spent the week in this one particular hospital recovering with a certain frog-faced doctor heading it. Although, she barely remembered it. After all, it was in her early childhood.

From there the visuals just got more and more bizarre. Unlike the previous memory that was a reliving of a past event, that being the 'Misaka family battery incident', these weren't anything that she remembered. There was a giant… thing that reminded her of that golem that almost hurt Index months and months ago, or at least so she was told as she wasn't there for it. It was massive, it smelled like an unclean public bathroom, and it looked angry that she was standing in front of it. It had a massive club that it swung at her, her body acted on its own, as if she were just there for the ride, and ducked out of the way. When she turned around, there was a mirror that she approached, once more against her will. When she did walk up to it, she saw that she wasn't her, but some Raven-haired boy around the age of ten who could stand to lose some weight. The mirrored image reached into his pocket and revealed some kind of red stone and then placed it back inside it, she then felt a rock-like substance in her pocket. What she saw next was what could only be described as a man with two faces. Literally in this case. He had one face where it should have been which looked normal despite the fact that he was bald and a noseless freak of a face on the BACK of his head. Then, he laid his grubby, greasy, sweaty hands on her in an attempt to strangle her; but they started to burn. As if she were disintegrating him on a molecular level. Finally, the mentally scarring visual ended with the two-headed man blowing away as he became dust.

The scene shifted to a giant snake that was larger than anything she had seen before. It had to be at least sixty meters long, if not longer. In her hand was a sword that had a jewel in the pommel. Once more, she acted as if she was a passenger and ran at the giant snake, which she noted looked blinded as there were claw marks where its eyes were supposed to be that was currently gushing blood. She ran the sword through the snake's mouth, the blade entering the brain, killing it. She felt a burning pain in her arm to see the snake's fang sticking in her arm. The pain was unbearable, and all the while some black-haired, older teen who was gloating over her being injected with some killer venom that the snake's fang had. She ripped the fang out of her arm and drove it into the leather-bound journal. What she didn't expect to happen was the teen to scream in pain as black ichor started to flow out of the book, almost like the consistency of ink. She stabbed it into the book over and over again seeing that the teen was in pain. Every time she stabbed the journal, a beam of light would appear on the teen's body. Finally, all that was left was light and the teen exploded into light. She then passed out and the scene shifted once again. She could have sworn that there was a three-headed, massively sized hound in there too, but she wasn't certain.

This time, Mikoto was on a train. But not a metro car, but what looked like a very Western-style, steam coach car. She could tell based on the slower speed of the train. The metros in Academy City and the rest of Japan were quite fast due to the need for getting as many people to places as fast as possible. This wasn't a train car meant for efficiency, but for comfort. Inside the current two bench seating area were two other teens that looked to be about Shirai's age as she was to take a ballpark estimate. There was a brunette that, when she spoke sounded a lot like one of those 'know-it-all' types; Mikoto already disliked her. Oh, don't get her wrong, she had a lot of smart friends, like Uiharu, but she knew how to be personable about it, even downplaying it at times. Humble, that was the word. The second was a red-headed boy the same age. He was currently stuffing his face with some kind of snack-like candy or something. She thought it looked like an animated frog or something. If no one else was going to react to that oddness, why would she? That boy, though, he was messy and ate like a child starving, despite the fact that he looked like he could lose a few kilos. She was disgusted by his lack of mannerisms at all. But yet, here they were, sitting in the same compartments as friends.

The next thing that happened chilled her to the bone, literally. There was an unnatural chill in the air as windows started to frost over when the cabin was more then comfortable at nice, warm temperature. Even the outdoor temperature was chilly just because it was raining, but otherwise was easily staved off with a light coat or hoodie. The inter so temperature kept getting colder and colder until everyone's breath could be seen. Soon enough, the cause of the sudden chill appeared. It had the appearance of a floating robed figure that looked creepy as sin. It turned towards her only for her to experience a set of visions, primarily pertaining to a green flash and a scream of an older woman. She passed out, but as she did she heard the words " _Expecto Patronum_ " being said as a silver flash. When she awoke, the two kids had chocolate bars and were eating them, and as she regained consciousness one was placed in front of her as well.

There was one final duo of scenes. The first was of a great field with many tents in it, like some kind of massive campout. She felt excited and said excitement was directed towards a stadium-like structure standing in the center of all the tents. She breathed in the clean air of the forest clearing only to smell lots of different foods from all around the world. Her mouth watered at the different smells. The scene seemed to fast-forward as she ate those foods, some were great where others weren't. But finally, she was inside the stadium, and what she saw outright confused her. There was what were clearly the competitors flying around on brooms of all things. And they weren't moving slowly, they were whipping around at breakneck speeds and flying well above ten meters above the ground if not higher. The game she observed passed by quickly as she saw some interesting sights such as the mascots for the two teams; that being leprechauns of all things and these creatures of extreme beauty that looked like supermodels. They made her feel more inadequate than normal in the body image department. But soon enough, the game was over and she was back inside 'tent city' exhausted from the multi-hour-long match. In fact, she was so exhausted that she collapsed into the soft bed almost immediately. However, that relief didn't last long as there was a shrill shriek of terror from a woman somewhere a distance away, but still close enough to be inside tent city. She was pulled outside to see the city in flames, black figures in hooded robes not dissimilar in style to ones worn by a certain group in the Deep South of the United States.

She saw those people in the robes juggling three other people, a man, a woman, and a child (clearly a family) with a telekinetic power while laughing joyfully. Others lit tents on fire and laughed just as gleeful. This group of people was clearly doing this to get their rocks off as no one else that wasn't dressed like them were joining in on the 'fun'. She was about to move and help the two but was pulled along by the brunette and redhead towards the tree line. She wanted to fight against them to help but was unable to. Once more she was a passenger on this ride, unable to actually do anything. After what seemed like they ran forever, the night's sky lit up and there in the sky was a skull with a snake coming out of the jaw.

There was one final scene, once more she was inside that castle, but this time she was in the dining hall. Or, at least she thought so as there was food on the tables and there was a gaggle of students there. So, dining hall. Everyone was enjoying themselves. The redhead was stuffing his face, and she was doing the same too. There was a loud clapping noise and at the head of the tables, where all the teachers sat (at least that's what she hoped, at least) a Gandalf or Merlin lookalike stood up to make announcements.

"It is with great sympathy that I must announce that this year will be a very strange, yet interesting one for you. First of all, the House Cup will be temporarily suspended for this year, however, punishments will be augmented to suit the offense," he announced. There was some grumbling. Primarily from one group that LOVED winning. "In addition to that is that we will also be canceling the Quidditch matches for the year." THIS got a lot more of an uproar than the cancellation of the House Cup. In fact, two redheaded twins shot up. The redhead in front of him was enraged as well. Apparently, Quidditch was a very well-loved sport here. "There is a reason to this as we have the opportunity this year to host a wondrous event."

"No way!" one of the twins shouted in shock.

"This year we have the great honor of hosting the Triwizard Tournament!"

Mikoto's eyes snapped open and she bolted up in bed with a gasp, her breathing faster than it should have been. She looked at her hands and started feeling her body. It only took checking between the legs to ensure that she wasn't in that… dream? It was too realistic. It's said in dreams that you can't read words in books or texts and that at times it can be outright absurd as the mind is processing information from when it was awake. The features of the people were TOO sharp, the images TOO vivid, the speech TOO clear. It was clear this wasn't a dream, or was it? It wasn't that long ago when she had found out about that dream machine that could both influence dreams and makes them a reality, but that was destroyed so it couldn't be that.

She looked at the clock to see that it was still early in the morning, more than an hour to when she would normally wake up. That time was plenty to shower, get dressed, and get ready for the day. She sighed seeing that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep for any impactful amount of time and decided to just get up. She quickly got dressed in a set of workout clothes which didn't take long at all. As she left the dorm, the looked at Shirai's face to see that it had a blush on it, Mikoto could easily guess what SHE was dreaming about; to that, she rolled her eyes.

Mikoto had decided to go for a jog to clear her head. It was still early, but students were allowed to leave at this time as some did have odd schedules as some had odd jobs they did for extra cash or their class schedule was just odd in general. Of course, though, the curfew was still in effect and still needed a pass that was signed off on if you needed to be out later than curfew.

The jog was uneventful, surprising isn't it, all things considered, and who she was? There were very few people on the sidewalks near her dorm, nor were there many people on the road. The sidewalks were mostly populated by the cleaning robots that roamed endlessly, searching for trash to clean up. This lack of people allowed her mind to wander as she thought about the 'dream' once more. There were a few red flags that popped out at her, now that she had the chance to think about them. Why was there another boy in the crib? She definitely didn't have a brother, but she did have ten thousand Sisters. The green light? The woman's voice? What was that all about? She remembered the hospital and the frog-faced doctor. In fact, it was him that really got her obsession with Gekota going in the first place as he gave her a little plush doll of the character. And plus, you know, he looks like a frog.

The hospital was definitely a memory, but the crib, the hooded figure, the voice, all the events in that castle, and 'tent city'? Those she had no idea about. The person whom she was watching through was definitely around the same age as her meaning she herself couldn't have experienced them, assuming that they weren't just her mind creating them or them being implanted into her dreams in some kind of Academy City Experiment™ (3) she had signed up for without knowing it; like with Project: Radio Noise.

She shook her head and broke out into a sprint, trying to metaphorically outrun those thoughts. It worked as they were nothing more than little blips on her current mental radar. An hour passed before she returned to the dorm and entered it. She tried to close the door to her shared room carefully, but it squeaked and Shirai noticed.

"Sissy?" she asked groggily. "Is that you?"

"Y-yeah," Mikoto replied nervously.

Shirai sat up and looked at Mikoto, her sleepiness slowly melting away. As that sleepiness melted away, she noticed Mikoto's current state of dress. "Why are you in your gym clothes?"

Mikoto looked down at her clothes and then back to Shirai. It was no use to try and lie. "I decided to go for an early morning run," she shrugged.

She narrowed her eyes at Mikoto. "You never go for an early morning run."

Mikoto's eyes darted to the side. "Well, I decided to go for one today."

"Something's not right."

"W-what are you talking about? E-everything's alright!" Mikoto nervously replied. Shirai kept her eyes narrowed at Mikoto, keeping the uncomfortable amount of silence going. Minutes went by with absolute silence and uncomfortableness. That is until Mikoto finally broke down. "Fine! I had a bad dream and couldn't get to sleep again so I decided to go for a run."

Shirai's eyes widened, thinking of the same thing that Mikoto did. "You don't think that they rebuilt the dream machine, do you?"

"No, that wasn't it. It was something else."

"Something else?"

Mikoto nodded. "It felt much different than that whole ordeal. There… really isn't any other way to really describe it other than different." Shirai continued to look at her all worried like. "Don't worry about it, it was just a dream," Mikoto reassured her friend.

"Well, if you say so," Shirai replied, still concerned. She got off the bed and walked towards their shared bathroom. "Just remember, I'm here if you need someone to talk to."

The door closed and Mikoto muttered to herself, "There's nothing to be worried about, it was just an odd dream."

Luckily, for Mikoto's sake, the rest of the morning continued on without fanfare. She got dressed in her Tokowadai uniform as she was required to even if the school was not in session. She thought it was an annoying rule, but she understood the reasoning behind it; she was a representative, and walking advertisement, for Tokowadai as an ambassador was for their home country, you wanted it represented well. She looked in the mirror and was satisfied with how she looked. As she was about to head out Shirai came out of the bathroom still dressed in a towel.

"Where are you going?" she asked (see: demanded).

"Out for a bit, I'm just going to take a day off and relax," Mikoto honestly responded. "After everything that has gone on, I need a day off. A legitimate day off."

Shirai could sympathize with her. There were days when she worked at Judgement when she was involved in cases in which she wished that she got a day off. Cases like the Level Upper case, that was one extremely annoying set of cases. She smirked at her self-proclaimed sister's willingness to take a day off and just relax. "So, what were you planning on doing?" she asked.

"Just going to an arcade for a bit."

She narrowed her eyes at Mikoto. "You aren't planning on cheating, are you?"

"No! Of course not!" Mikoto shouted in retort. "Why would you think I would cheat?"

Shirai raised an eyebrow at her. "Because you can hack into any system using your Electromaster powers?"

"Well, I won't cheat! There's a certain professionalism that exists in arcades. It's all about skill in the game, not if you can cheese it. What kind of person do you think I am?"

Shirai smiled and replied, "That's what I was hoping you would say. Have fun. Who are you meeting with, anyway?"

"A friend," Mikoto said as she closed the door to the dorm.

Shirai could only think of a few people that met that description. "She couldn't mean… could she?" she thought out loud as she raced to her dresser to get dressed in her own Tokowadai uniform as quickly as possible. She got a weird gleam in her eye as she thought about her 'sister'. "I'm going to follow her and if some guy thinks he's going to get fresh with my sissy he's sadly mistaken!" Fully dressed, she disappeared as she teleported to keep an eye on her 'sister' as 'out of sight' as she could.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, a certain Level 0 sneezed.

Mikoto walked outside her dorm building to see a long, raven-haired girl wearing inconspicuous clothing that would have seemed normal by all standards. However, she knew who it was, it was the Sister. How did she know? There were two big tells. The first of which was the eyes; they were the same 'lifeless' eyes that she associated with the Misaka Sisters as no one else had them. The other giveaway? The 'night vision' goggles that she had on her head. Somehow though, this didn't surprise her in the slightest.

"Misaka," Mikoto greeted.

"Gasp, Misaka gasps as Misaka was certain that her disguise was foolproof!" the Sister said, her arms held defensively as if she was actually exposed. "How did nee-san see through our disguise? Misaka requests the pertinent information from her sister."

Mikoto pointed to her head and replied, "The goggles and the eyes."

"Misaka sees, Misaka says as she slams a closed fist into her other open palm in realization and understanding. What does nee-san think of the rest of our disguise, Misaka asks innocently, as Misaka looks as innocent as possible with her hands behind her back."

"It's fine. Normal, even."

"Misaka sees, Misaka observes her nee-san's reply. Misaka will take this into consideration for future outings of all Sisters, Misaka says mindfully."

Mikoto could only pinch the bridge of her nose. "Let's just… get going."

"Affirmative, Misaka replies. We are burning daylight, Misaka says quoting some long-dead person. Where are we going? Misaka asks acting excitedly like the 'sister' archetype from the manga that Misaka used as research material."

"To the arcade."

Fortunately, for Mikoto the trip to the arcade was silent. Although, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Cue a sneezing certain teleporter who panicked at the thought that she had been heard. She also couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that the dream had left her with earlier this morning. When they arrived at the arcade, it sure wasn't empty; obviously, because it was the weekend. The two took a seat at a 'battle' arcade cabinet, that being a game with two linked cabinets where the players would play against each other as long as both paid at the same time; or roughly thereabouts.

"Misaka will destroy you, Misaka announces confidently as Misaka prepares for battle," the Sister stated.

Mikoto prepared for an easy win. After all, when did the Sisters have time to play video games? Three consecutive games and losses at records speed later, Mikoto's mouth was agape. She lost. No matter what she did, she lost.

"Misaka has won, Misaka declares as Misaka declares victory," the Sister stated. "The Network sends their congratulations to Misaka's victory."

"How did…?" Mikoto thought aloud. "The Network!" she said in realization. She stood up and pointed at the Sister. "You cheated!"

"Misaka did not cheat, Misaka defends herself while crossing her arms. Misaka did not consult the Network on how to predict your actions and react in turn, Misaka attempts to mislead the Original with an 'innocent' face."

Mikoto ground her teeth as a few arcs of electricity sparked off of her and as she growled. "Touma, Touma, over here!" a young voice called. A certain short girl wearing a white and gold nun's habit rounded the set of claw machines with a cat hiding in the neck of said habit. She didn't look but said certain nun's speaking was followed by another person.

"Oh, biribiri-chan is here too," a certain level 0 stated. Mikoto snapped towards the voice of Touma to glare at him. He was currently rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"I'm not a bug zapper and quit calling me one!" Mikoto shouted indignantly as more arcs of electricity sparked off of her.

"Misaka advises calm, Misaka says while standing up and attempts to be a mediator by holding her hands in the air in a 'stop' motion," the Sister said.

Touma turned to see the Misaka Sister. It was hard to mistake her for anyone else other than a Sister just based on her speech pattern alone. "Oh, you're here too," he said. He then noticed the change in hair color and length. "You changed your hair. I almost didn't recognize you."

"You noticed, Misaka remarks as Misaka acts like a shy schoolgirl. But fear not, Misaka adds with confidence. Behold, it is Misaka, Misaka says as Misaka removes the wig covering Misaka's head." The Sister removed the wig in an overly dramatic fashion revealing her similarly cut hair that Mikoto had. "Misaka is happy that the Savior has noticed her, Misaka remarks."

All Touma could do was rub the back of his head again while replying, "Savior… right…"

"What are you doing here, idiot?" Mikoto asked haughtily.

"Will you stop calling me an idiot?" Touma asked.

"I will once you stop calling me a bug zapper!" she shouted back. She then cleared her throat. "What are you doing here, Kamijou?" she asked sounded agitated but respectfully.

"Index wanted to come to the arcade for some plush of a character that she saw on TV. Apparently, it's in these machines here."

"Oh, is that all?" Mikoto stuttered. She thought differently, like that he was following her.

"So, what are you and…" he trailed.

"Misaka number 10032, Misaka finishes the Savior's sentence," the Sister finished.

"Thirty-two," Touma continued, "doing here?"

"Can't I come to the arcade with my Sister for no reason other than to hang out with her?" Mikoto overexplained.

"Technically, since Misaka is connected to the Network Big Sister is spending time with all of the Sisters at once as Misaka is sharing the experiences and memories in real time, Misaka explains succinctly. Last Order is particularly amused at Big Sister's loss. She relays that Accelerator is annoyed with her as he normally is, Misaka adds."

"Of course, he is," Mikoto said with a lopsided grin. Accelerator was annoyed with EVERYONE, he just put up with Last Order for some reason or another. No one really asked for his reasoning, they just let Accelerator be Accelerator.

Index came up to Touma pulling at his arm. "Touma, Touma, win me that plushie!" she ordered the much older boy.

"Right, right. Give me a second," Touma said to the nun. Then, he just paused as if gripped by some invisible force keeping him in place. "Hey, does anyone else feel unusually staticky? Like your hair is standing on end?"

Everyone turned to look at Mikoto who only responded with, "What? Don't look at me. I'm not doing this." There was a moment of silence before Mikoto started feeling that too, but she wasn't using her Electromaster ability. "What the-?" she asked as she looked down and saw that she was starting to glow.

"Touma!" Index shouted. "Quickly, touch her!" Index pointed towards Mikoto.

"What!?" Touma asked in confusion.

"There's a magical influence over her! Now, touch her with your right hand!"

Touma lunged forward and grabbed Mikoto's shoulder with his right hand and the aura immediately disappeared with the sound of shattering glass. "Index, what do you mean 'magical influence'?" Touma asked as he let go of Mikoto.

Index hummed to herself as she started thinking, digging through her memory to find any grimoire that recorded this signature of magic. "It felt like summoning magic."

"Summoning magic?" Mikoto asked.

"Yes. It is a type of magic that is used to summon objects or persons over vast distances. There are variants that are used for short distances but the one that appeared around you was intended for long distances," Index explained.

"Who would be trying to summon you?" Touma asked Mikoto.

"How the heck should I know? I know very little about magic other than it exists!" Mikoto replied.

"Alert! Misaka warns, pointing to a circle of light on the ground," the Sister said pointing towards a spot on the ground.

What had appeared was a circle of light around the group of the 'Kamijou Faction' present in the Arcade the same shade that had been emanating from Mikoto just a few moments before. Before Index could tell Touma to cancel it out with Imagine Breaker, he started to move. However, he would not reach the closest 'line' in time. To everyone outside the circle of light, it got brighter until there was only what could be described as a flash-bang level of light. When it cleared there was an entire chunk of missing ground where the people used to be. Even an arcade machine was cut in half, its exposed and still plugged in wires sparking. A certain Level 4 teleporter was freaking out as she dialed Judgement and Anti-Skill for assistance for an abduction case. But for Mikoto, Misaka, Touma, and Index the experience was different.

For these poor souls, they felt like they were on a rocket blasting off into space. Everyone screamed out in terror, except Misaka as she was monotone 'screaming' "Aaaah" in an unconvincing way. They all had their eyes closed as they felt like they were being pressed into the ground, once again that rocket launch feeling. Suddenly as soon as it started, it stopped. However, that doesn't mean that Mikoto and company stopped screaming. In fact, they continued to scream well after the 'trip' had ended. They still thought that they were still being 'launched' and it wasn't until an older man cleared his throat did they realize that they were no longer in danger, or at least immediate danger.

"Excuse me, might I ask who you are?" an elderly voice asked.

Mikoto opened her eyes to see that she was currently hugging Touma tightly, mostly because of what happened. However, Mikoto didn't really realize what he said as due to a language barrier; and only half listening as she was blushing up a storm as she immediately pushed Touma away.

"What was that for?" Touma asked Mikoto as he stood up.

"You know what that was for!" Mikoto retorted as she stood up as well.

"Harry Potter?" the old man asked, primarily looking at Touma. It's hard to confuse names even when not speaking your own language.

"Who?" Touma asked in accented but borderline perfect English.

"Headmaster, there is no way that could be a Potter, no matter how dimwitted he looks," a man with greasy black hair said in such a way that Mikoto felt insulted despite not knowing what had been said. Or, at least not right away. It took her a moment to really piece together the English syntax and cut through the accent. English is not an easy language, especially to those who were not instructed in it as young children and grew up with it spoken in their household.

"Hey!" Touma retorted with offence.

There were murmurs in the room they were in. Mikoto took a look at the room to see that it wasn't a room, it was a massive hall-like chamber; like a great hall or something. Inside this great hall were four massive tables that were the length of the entire hall with one running the width at the head. Sitting at the four massive tables were children of all different ages ranging from what looked like ten to those as old as seventeen. Most of them were dressed in black robes (?), but there were two other sets that were in the minority were wearing what looked like baby blue robes (?) and furs. It was safe to say that Mikoto was extremely confused. In fact, Touma and the Sister were confused too, although the latter was obvious based on her blank stare. Now that Mikoto thought about it, that didn't mean anything really. The Sisters all had blank stares. Well, except Last Order, but she was an exception as her part in that horrid experiment was different to what the other Sisters' purpose was. In fact, Mikoto could see that the Sister was observing the architecture more than the people themselves. She looked at the décor as well but primarily looked at the hall itself. To Mikoto, it looked old, yet well maintained.

"After analysis and consulting with the Network, of which Misaka 10069 is currently studying architecture in Seattle and complains that it rains there too much, Misaka estimates that we are in northern Scotland, Misaka exposits as she wows the people around her," the Sister exposited.

Everyone was silent at that, well, mostly because of the foreign language being spoken that no one recognized nor understood. Well, except for a certain headmaster, that is.

"I do apologize, but my Japanese is a bit rusty since the last time I used it was many years ago," he said, unfortunately, sounding like someone who just learned and was struggling to speak a second language. "Would you mind if we switched to English?"

"Misaka is alright with speaking English, Misaka replies using the knowledge shared across the Network to speak in fluent but accented English but internally wishes to not switch languages at all," the Sister replied.

"I can speak passable English," Touma replied.

"I understand it, but can't speak it well," Mikoto replied slowly, making sure to get the syllables as correct as possible.

"Touma, Touma! Where are we-?" Index asked as she popped into view, somehow being missed by the robed people. "Oh, we're in England," she added without breaking stride. "But this isn't a church. Who are these people?" Her eyes wandered to the hands of some of the robed people and saw sticks, but not just any sticks, but sticks with magic flowing within it. She was about to say something else but she was interrupted. And quite rudely if she were to add.

"A nun of the Church!" someone cried. It was then that all hell broke loose. Those dressed in black robes ducked under the table while those dressed in furs and in baby blue looked at them as if they were freaking out over nothing. After all, what could a little girl do to them? If only they knew.

An overzealous robed child drew his stick and shouted something in pseudo-Latin and a beam of light shot towards Index out of the stick. Touma, without saying anything nor having anyone say anything to him, leaped in front of Index with his right hand extended. The beam of light hit his hand and everyone was certain that the crazy boy was dead to rights. But instead, the moment that it touched his hand the spell dissipated into nothingness as it was accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. To say that everyone in the hall was shocked would be an understatement to the nth degree. In fact, everyone that didn't know Touma, wielder of the Imagine Breaker ability, was absolutely shocked; speechless even.

Mikoto looked to see who shot at Index. Apparently, it was this platinum-blonde kid with slicked-back hair that could have given an old-school Italian mob member a run for his money with the amount of hair product he had in it. He looked like the type that got everything that he begged his parents for and even more than that by just begging and pleading as well as threatening those that didn't heed his orders by threatening them with social or political backlash.

Mikoto looked towards the kid that shot at them. She put a hand in her pocket and asked, "Hey kid, do you know what a Railgun is?" Touma immediately recognized the tone of voice she was using and he didn't like where it was going.

"No, and why should I care?" the boy replied as haughtily as one could without having a literal big head.

She pulled her hand out of her pocket and held her ferric arcade token in the palm of her hand. "It's a weapon placed on high tech battleships. It does work on the same principle that maglev trains do." That seemed to pique the interest of a shaggy-haired brunette. And the blonde kid noticed as well.

"Granger! What is this bint going on about?" he went on. Mikoto didn't know what specific slang word he said, but she was sure it was an insult.

"'Bint' is a local colloquialism for 'bitch' in the British Isles, Misaka explains calmly and quietly despite the fact that she knows that this will enrage the Original," the Sister explained. Immediately, Mikoto tensed up, the arcade token already ready to be flipped in the air.

"A battleship is a warship and a maglev train is a muggle train that moves with magnets instead of steam," the brunette named Granger said almost stutteringly.

"Muggle devices?" he said with great disdain. "You're a muggle!?"

"I don't know anything about being this 'muggle' you're going on about," Mikoto trailed as she flipped her token in the air. "But I do know this." As the coin reached the peak of its arc, the entire room felt their hair rise like it would right before a lightning strike at a very close distance. The coin quickly descended towards her waiting, extended arm. When it reached about a hand's span away from being level with her closed and extended fist she started to actually emit arcs of electricity that everyone could hear. In Mikoto's own mind's eye, she visualized the two magnetic rails that would propel her ferric arcade token. As she had done this so many times before, this happened in the time it took to blink. When the token reached her fist the electric buzzing reached a fever pitch and there was a flash of light and the roar of thunder. The blonde boy was thrown onto the table by the sheer force of wind that passed him by. When he turned to look at Mikoto, there was still a dull light that went past him, electricity arcing off of it as well as her arm. "Even a coin like this has massive power if it's flying at three times the speed of sound."

Touma noticed she didn't add that it only had a range of thirty to fifty meters before the ferric object melted because of air friction. Might as well put the fear of Mikoto Misaka into them. To those who hadn't defecated in pure fear smelled the particular smell of molten metal and rock.

"D-Draco," a boy near him stuttered and pointed behind him. The boy, now named Draco, turned to look behind him and saw a molten crater in the now apparent gap between the solid iron door and the stone wall that was at the entrance of the great hall.

"Had that hit you head on and not missed as I intended, you would be nothing more than a blood stain on the walls," Mikoto said. "But you're not worth jail time to kill over," she added haughtily. While that was the truth, she really didn't want to kill anyone.

"W-who are you?" Draco asked.

Mikoto flipped a bang out of her eyes and replied, "I'm the third-ranked out of two point five million people in Academy City to reach Level 5. I have been known by a few different names like Tokowadi's Invincible Electric Princess and Mikoto Misaka. But there is one other name that I am known by: Railgun." The eyes of many kids and adults alike widened in the room with the realization of what that statement meant.

For those you could follow simple logic and critical thinking skills, they were able to piece together that a ship-borne weapon being manifested by a girl who was only in her teens was pants-wetting levels of terrifying. She just put a molten dent into magically reinforced stone and iron; not many things could accomplish that. In fact, it took fairly powerful wizards to even damage the walls of the ancient magical castle which made the professors and adults in the room worry all the more, primarily those on the Hogwarts side of things.

While all that happened, no one seemed to notice a certain magical Index wandering a few dozen feet behind them towards a certain on fire goblet. During the uncomfortable silence that arose because of Mikoto firing her Railgun, Index said, "I know what happened now."

Everyone turned to look at the little nun. "Elaborate, Misaka asks, substituting herself as a proxy for the impromptu audience," the Sister asked.

"I knew that I recognized this type of summoning magic before," Index started to explain. "In ancient grimoires, there is a summoning spell which will summon anyone living regardless of where they were, in another country or another parallel dimension." She got a look from Mikoto especially at she said 'parallel dimension'. "No, we haven't crossed over the dimensional rift. We've moved from one part of the globe, Academy City, to another, northern Scotland."

"Ok, that's obvious," Mikoto chimed in, "but why were we targeted for it?"

"Oh, that's easy. We weren't. You were," Index revealed.

"What?!" Mikoto asked in surprise.

Index stuck her index finger in the air as if she was some kind of school teacher. "If you'll recall, the first thing that the summoning magic attached itself was you, Railgun."

The hall got so quiet that if someone were to drop a pin it would have sounded like a gunshot on a quiet prairie (minus the calm breeze) in comparison. Finally, the man in the bowler hat spoke up, someone that if he hadn't said anything, no one would have noticed him. "That's impossible!" he shrieked.

"And why would that be?" Touma asked.

"Because the name that was placed into the Goblet of Fire was that of Harry Potter! And that's impossible because he's dead!"

Mikoto burst out laughing after pieces the two 'puzzle' parts together. "A-and you think I'm this Harry Potter boy?" she asked while still laughing. She wiped a tear out of her eye and cleared her throat, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a _girl_." She made sure to stress 'girl'.

"We, ahem, noticed," the Merlin lookalike replied.

"If you noticed that, then why am I here if I'm not this Harry kid?"

"Magic seems to think otherwise," the Merlin lookalike replied.

"What?" was Mikoto's only response.

"Magic is a very simple, yet complex thing," he started to explain.

"The old wizard is correct," Index cut in. Before Mikoto or Touma could ask another question, Index continued, "Magic is 'simple' in the sense that it works as advertised. You use a spell to boil hot water, you're going to get hot water, for example. But what makes it 'complex' is the intent behind the spell used. This primarily comes into play when creating something rather than directly doing something yourself. For example, golems or even Styl's Innocentus." The name of Styl's signature end-game spell got a raised eyebrow from the Merlin lookalike. "These creations are made with the intent of controlling them, but base in their magic 'coding' they act upon their creator's will when they created them. That is what I believe is in play here with this magical goblet."

"Care to explain?" the man in a bowler hat asked, more annoyed that somehow a kid knew more about magic than he did.

Index turned to the adults in the room but kept Mikoto in her range of sight as she was addressing her as well. "It is my belief that, with the evidence presented, that Mikoto is this Harry kid."

"Once again, that's impossible."

"You live in a world of magic where the impossible is possible and yet you believe this to be impossible?" Index taunted.

"You need some milk, Misaka quotes an internet meme as you have just been burned," the Sister joked, a smug look was on her face that Mikoto had seen a few times before. "Get it? Misaka asks. Because milk cancels out the spice, Misaka explains seeing the dumbfounded look on your face."

Index, regardless of the unneeded 'burn' from the Misaka clone, continued on. "The body of Harry Potter was never found and therefore noted as 'dead' in all official records. Necessarius and the Anglican Church is well aware of the events that took place on October 31 approximately twelve years ago due to the fact that this Dark Lord was on our radar as well, at least according to old records I looked at briefly while in the Vatican." Seeing the vacant looks, she decided to soldier on. "Regardless of that, our own investigators found that there was magical 'residue' from soul related magic. The first was the signature calling card of said Dark Lord, that of the Killing Curse. The second was what could only be described as a rushed botch job of a modified shield spell."

"Excuse me," a redheaded woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties to early forties who looked to have the appearance of a depressed woman whose only solace was her work. "What do you mean botched?"

Index shrugged. "Sorry, I only remember what I saw and those were the words of the investigator sent at the time. Any further research notes would have been heavily redacted and kept at 'eyes only' levels of security."

"What does this have to do with this apparent case of mistaken identity? Misaka asks wishing that the Index would get to the point," the Sister stated.

She shot the Sister a glare and puffed her cheeks up. "I was getting to that!" Index whined. "What I was going to say was that the botched spell destroyed the body of little Harry Potter and the soul went to the afterlife for… let's just say 'processing' as no one really knows what happens except for those who go there themselves. And I'm getting to why this makes sense in a moment," she said answering the 'what does this have to do with' question. "Somehow, the soul of Harry Potter made its way back to the land of the living and now resides in the body of Mikoto Misaka."

This certainly was a mental blow to Mikoto. She wasn't her? How could that even be possible? In fact, she muttered, "How? How could I not be me?" she asked.

"You are you," Index clarified. "However, what you were before the 'death' of Harry Potter and what you are now are two separate entities. It is my belief that the souls of Mikoto Misaka and Harry Potter fused together to create an amalgamation of a person."

"That would explain your boyishness," Touma commented. His forever 'bad luck' syndrome instantly backfiring as Mikoto shot out a lightning bolt from her forehead at him, to which he defended against with his right hand which caused the synonymous 'Kamijou glass shatter' sound.

"While this is great, this does bring up the issue of the Triwizard Tournament," the man with the bowler hat stated.

"What do you mean?" Mikoto asked.

"Your name came out of the Goblet of Fire; therefore, you must compete."

"So, you're telling me that since this other kid's name came out of the mystical goblet over there and I appeared instead of him, I have to compete?"

"Yes," the man simply replied.

"No thanks," she flippantly replied. "I need to get home because I'm pretty sure a certain teleporter is trying to rally the entirety of Anti-Skill and Judgement to find us." 'But mostly me,' she added to herself. She knew how Shirai could get with her.

"Unfortunately, that is impossible," the Merlin lookalike sadly stated.

Before Mikoto could retort, to which she did send a few sparking arcs of electricity off, Index chimed in. "He is, unfortunately, telling the truth," she said. "The magic that was used in the construction of the magic based contract that forms when one has been not only entered but selected by it, is iron-clad in almost every sense of the word. The only way out is to win, lose, or die."

"Die?!" Mikoto and Touma said at the same time.

"Yes," Index replied solemnly. "Up until around two hundred years ago, the tournament was held every four years between the then three premier magical institutions."

"What changed that?" Touma asked.

"All three contestants died during the first task," Index replied, causing Mikoto to gulp. "The families pressured the international communities to outright ban the tournament. Which with pending magical war on the horizon if they didn't, so they banned it. It was only until now, apparently, that the tournament was reinstated."

"Aren't, you know, the scientific and magical sides supposed to be separated?" Touma asked.

"Yes, they are," a certain mage said as the massive iron doors opened to reveal one Styl Magnus. Next to him was an exhausted-looking Shirai doubled over next to him. He looked down at the Esper and said, "Thank you for getting me here so quickly."

"No problem," Shirai panted. "No job is too big to save my Big Sister." She spotted Mikoto and teleported to her in the blink of an eye. "Big sister!" she said as she glomped onto Mikoto. "Oh, how I thought that you were stolen away from me, but love prevailed in the end as I found you!"

"Uhh, Koroko?" Mikoto asked, seeing the Shirai was completely out of it, oblivious to what was going on around her.

"Yes, Big Sister-?" she trailed off in question as she looked up to see a duller eyed Mikoto that was wearing night vision goggles on her head.

"I am not the Original, Misaka says wishing that the Perverted One would release her," the Sister requested.

"Original?" Kuroko asked as she looked from the Sister to Mikoto. "There are two of you!"

'Quite a few more than that,' Mikoto thought to herself. She looked at the Sister with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Do you know what? You're on Shirai duty now," she said to the Sister.

"I decline, Misaka declines the Original's one-sided offer that only benefits her, while waving her free hand in a gesture that solidifies her declination of the offer," the Sister replied while doing the stated action.

Unlike Shirai, Style had to walk all the way to the front where all the adults were. When he did, the man in the bowler hat shouted, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Everyone was eyeing the long-haired, red-headed man with the barcode tattoo under his eye wearing a trench coat. "My name is Styl Magnus and my being here are primarily because of her," he pointed to Index. "Although, I am also here because of the Esper too."

"Because of the nun?" the man with the bowler hat asked.

"Yes. She is part of the English Anglican church and the boy beside her is currently her guardian. As she is incredibly… precious," Styl chose his words very carefully, "to the church, and as such we can track her whereabouts if needed. Our watcher, for the lack of a better term, saw that her location changed instantaneously from Academy City to northern Scotland. Seeing as this is the only magical establishment in the area, the disappearance set off some red flags with my superiors to ensure no one got their grubby mitts on her and that she is safe."

The Merlin lookalike saw the dangerous look in Styl's eyes as he flicked ash off of his cigarette, the flames ever so subtly dancing as they fell to the ground as if manipulated instead of falling naturally as gravity would imply they would. "As you can see, she is well and safe," the Merlin lookalike reassured the smoking man.

He looked at Index and asked, "You alright, kid?"

She turned away from looking at the Goblet to look at Styl. "Oh, I'm fine. You should be more worried about miss biribiri over there," Index replied.

Styl could only sigh. "And that's the other reason I'm here."

"You're worried about her?" the Merlin lookalike asked.

"Yes, Albus Dumbledore, but not for the same reason you might be thinking. As mentioned before, Mikoto Misaka is an Esper."

The now named Dumbledore asked in turn, "If I may ask, what is an Esper?"

"Someone who develops supernatural abilities through the use of science, Misaka replies for the mage as she tries to remove the Pervert from her person," the Sister said as she kept trying to remove Shirai as she kept talking about how she was in heaven being surrounded by two Big Sisters.

"What she said," Styl stated. "To add on to that definition, powers that aren't fueled by magic."

"That's impossible!" someone shouted put in the sea of children.

Styl could only laugh. "That crater and the smell of ozone would stand to tell otherwise, wouldn't it?" Once more their eyes turned from Mikoto to the wall where her railgun had caused the damage to the wall. "Here's the thing and the second reason I'm here, science and magic aren't meant to mix and her being here and forced into this infamous tournament places a very high probability that war will break out between the two factions should anything happen to her."

"The muggles wouldn't-," a pink-clad woman exclaimed who had the appearance of a toad. In fact, a certain Heaven's Canceller would have been offended by the sight of her.

"The 'muggles' don't care about your petty, ancient blood and ancestry based politics," Styl interrupted. "Right now, all they care about is that girl and that she lives. She is currently one of seven Level 5 Espers, those with abilities that are comparable to the bombs dropped on Hiroshima back during the Second World War." 'Although, that may be low-balling the numbers a bit,' Styl thought to himself. "Therefore, if a person with such a level of deterrence for the City's survival were lost to them, I no doubt there would be retaliation based on principle alone. And they wouldn't even have to set foot in this part of the world physically to do so." He let that sink in, especially with those that looked down on those who were mages or had a magical bone in their body, specifically the specific kind of magic that these kinds of mages preferred and were only able to use. Even his and Kanzaki's brands of magic would be considered heretical by this small enclave here in Britain who was, ironically, in the protection of the Anglican Church. "Luckily, my employer saw to send me to ensure that no harm comes to Miss Misaka during this tournament by outside influences."

"You believe that Mister Pott-, Miss Misaka's name was placed in the Goblet by an outside influence?" Dumbledore asked.

Styl gave the older wizard a look of 'are you a moron'. "Someone deliberately put the name of someone who is supposedly dead in the Goblet. Are your students the type to disrespect the dead by putting their names into an ancient artifact just for the laughs? If not, then you have someone plotting something, something to mess with the fragile balance between magic and science. I will stop said attempts to break it by any means." Dumbledore could see the subtle determination in his eyes. He prodded very gently with his mastery of Legilimens and could only see a towering inferno of a beast burning all that stood in its way. It was also then he noticed that he was being allowed to see it as he was quickly snapped back to his own mind.

"Yes, well hopefully it won't come to that."

"We will both have to see that it doesn't," Styl agreed. He was pleased that the old man who was quite the powerful magician was willing to cooperate with him. "I assume there are quarters to be set aside for visiting schools?"

"Indeed, we do. If Miss Misaka would be willing to enter this adjacent room, we are about to explain the rules of the tournament."

"That will be unnecessary, I will explain the rules myself as she is a special case in all this. I assume you are using the old rules for the dates of the events?"

Seeing as though Bagman was about to spout some inane insanity, Dumbledore answered, "Indeed, we are. Please, Professor Potter here," he gestured to the two-headed woman beside him, "will escort you to the guest quarters for these types of events."

The entirety of the Kamijou Faction plus a Lily Potter in tow leg the Great Hall to zero fanfare or even anyone saying anything. After all, what would they say? What could they even do? A certain young wizard and witch watched closely as their mother escorted the body of the person that supposedly contained the merged soul of their long-thought dead brother. The older of the two, the brother, left the Great Hall behind them but turned off to head towards the Owlery to write and send a letter to his father before his mother or sister could. As they walked the Misaka Sister was looking around like a kid in a candy store.

"Accelerator is annoyed once again, Misaka announces to the group walking beside her," the Sister said out of nowhere.

"What is it _this_ time?" Touma asked.

"Last Order is begging him to bring her here as she is seeing what I have been reporting, Misaka explains."

After a lot of confusion that filled the Hogwarts professor, she finally spoke up and asked, "Who are you, exactly? You look like Har- Miss Misaka but you talk funny."

Mikoto stiffened at the mention of the Sister walking with them. Mikoto carefully responded, "She's an interesting case."

"You are too kind, Misaka says, glowing in the compliment that the Original presents to Misaka 10032," the Sister said to Mikoto. "Misaka is one of twenty thousand and one clones of the Original."

"Twenty thousand?" the Potter matriarch asked in shock.

"Yes, Misaka confirms."

The woman's mouth was agape in befuddlement. 'Twenty thousand clones of a single person?' she thought. 'Why would they clone so many of my son, no, Mikoto?' "But why?"

"That is classified, Misaka responds cryptically, leaving certainty that there is more going on than there actually is."

They arrived at the assigned quarters which were more like a small, Western-style apartment. That being, that it had several bedrooms with a central social hub-like living room with furniture around a fireplace. "I will leave you here," the professor said before she walked off without saying another word.

They all took seats on the couches and chairs around the fireplace and Styl said, "We have much to discuss."

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **Alright, and there we go. Approximately 11k words, give or take. As usual, I will talk about what ideas I have for this story, but before that, some notes.**

 **1\. This is a reference to the story "Networked" by PseudoSim (** id: 12564252 **) where a scene happens where a Misaka Sister has to disguise herself.**

 **2\. This is a reference to and inspired by, a scene in the manga "Today's Cerberus" in volume 5, chapter 22 where the "main" Cerberus head, Roze, sends an energetic soul back to the land of the living as it was there before its time.**

 **3\. This is a slight reference to one of my favorite YouTubers who's a social scientist by study and publishes legit research papers, and one of her memes she uses in videos is " Skeptic™** **" (had to put a space there to keep it from deleting that) when referring to a certain YouTube community that's currently falling apart at the seams at the moment (see Mister Metokur's videos on the "Tales of Trout" for more info if you're actually interested).**

 **That wasn't so many, was it? But here's the long and skinny of all of this. Primarily, what do I have in mind for this pilot should I continue it? There are several things that I would like to tackle in this story. First and foremost, that being the whole crisis of identity that Railgun would have at the revelation that the person she currently is, is the amalgamation of two souls stitched together. And inb4 someone says there's some kind of political message in here, there isn't. This is just a pilot for a story meant to entertain, nothing more.**

 **The tournament won't be that big of a challenge to her considering what she has faced previously in the manga and of course the anime. The dragon won't be a challenge like it was to Harry in canon or to the other competitors. The second task would be the only one where she has actual difficulty because of the fact that she's underwater and needs a way to stay breathing as well as not accidentally kill everyone in the water with her Electromaster powers. The third, in an of itself, will be easy. As for the confrontation that will occur, well, I'll leave that up to an unknown for now.**

 **Now onto the Potter family. Now, I've seen quite a few approaches for this being a non-caring family or outright hostile one. In this one, they won't be either of those. Remember, they're a family that thought they had lost their eldest son (albeit him being a twin) on the same night that Voldemort was "defeated" by the younger twin. Therefore, I want to explore a family wanting to get close to what is another chance to be with their son even if he's no longer their son anymore physically. There is a reason some people form surrogate family members who aren't related to them at all. IF there's anyone who's outright hostile at first, it may be the younger twin as he's been brought up to be the "Savior of the Wizarding World" and is bratty and not the down-to-Earth everyman Harry we see in canon. As for the sister, she'd be excited to have older sisters (despite she has no idea what she's in for with the Misaka Sisters and their antics) and would be curious about them especially since she's going to only be in her first year during this story's run.**

 **Now for the whole shared memories thing with the highlights of the events from the previous three HP books, this is something that I'm going to go into later. But basically, what it comes down to is a twin-link like Padma and Parvarti in HP where they can feel what the other is emotionally (although there are some more… perverted writers on this site and elsewhere that make that much more perverted; but to each their own), the Potter twins only can share memories, but only when they're asleep as that's what I think will work. As Mikoto has been seeing the currently unnamed Potter twin's memories, he's been seeing hers as well from Academy City. This is something that he's going to confront her about.**

 **Now as to how I'm going to link these two universes who are cohabitating the same universe in this story. What I want to do is because this takes place shortly after the second season of** _ **Index**_ **is that this will be a prelude to the WW3 arc that takes place in the LNs of** _ **Index**_ **. Basically, Voldemort will be conspiring with Othinus to take down the hold that the various Churches and magical groups have as well as the scientific community so that he can be supreme ruler of Earth. Unsurprisingly, then, it wouldn't probably shock you if he totally tried to backstab Othinus at the end of that arc. Basically, I want to make the Wizarding World joined with the** _ **Toaru**_ **magical communities to make it seem like one large universe. It seems like I have quite the large task in front of me to make that happen.**

 **Let me know what you think about this pilot and if you want to see more of it. You guys should know the drill by now with reviews so I'll leave you to it. Don't forget to follow if you've favorited this archive as if you don't, you won't get updates when something new I've placed in here goes active. And if you've followed me personally, following this individual story does not give you double emails, only one. This may seem like begging, but this is only for me to gauge the size of the audience reading these, that's all. So, if you could help me out in this area, I'd appreciate it.**

 **Also, if you have access to the** _ **Toaru**_ **light novels outside of Index volume 1 (I own that one) let me know as that may help spring this idea along into a full-blown story instead of just a pilot.**

 **I hope to see you all in whatever I make next!**


	36. A Familiar of Zero self-insert pilot

**Alright, so I'll admit this upfront, this one is really odd, and that's coming from me.**

 **So, like I do on a usual day, I browse this site in my journey for interesting content to read. And I, in fact, did so. I found a** _ **Familiar of Zero**_ **fic where instead of Saito, an American geek ends up there in his place. Said fic is called "An American Geek in Halkeginia" by Inner Legions (** id: 8110477 **). It's an interesting read, but it's not entirely my cup of tea, but that's just me. That it was just being me, the character felt like a self-insert, so I had this idea: what if I, PhillyCh3zSt3ak, were suddenly pulled into the world of** _ **Familiar of Zero**_ **and Halkeginia? How would I react in that situation? Not an OC based off of me, but me. In my mind, this was a very interesting thought experiment as I've written characters a little OOC in order to project my thoughts on a situation, but never me. And here we are.**

 **So, what will this little pilot consist of? Well, if the previous paragraph didn't give it away I will be portraying myself as a self-insert who will only use his first name for obvious reasons. And, here's the thing, in real life I can be a real condescending asshole when people really have it coming. And considering this is an anime with a few really stupid characters early on in the show's/manga's run, I'm going to have a field day with them.**

 **Title: "Zero's Asshole Familiar"**

 **Rating: T+ - M as the** _ **Familiar of Zero**_ **is known as an ecchi series, meaning lots of sexual content even if it is just teasing you. AKA risqué visuals even though you never do see any nudity; typical anime, am I right? Here's the thing though, I don't know how far I want this to go. I understand that societal pressures were different in the middle ages and things are much different today. That, however, is for future me to decide on as this is pilot and not the opening chapter for a new series.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

 _Inner monologues_

XxXxXxX

 _If there's one thing that you should know about me, is that I'm your average twenty-something who lives an average existence where I work part-time at a dead-end job with little chances of advancement and go to a technical college to get the skills that I need in order to enter the Computer Science field. Sure, I'm sure that I can learn what I need from the Internet, however, there is the aspect of networking that the school provides that is slightly more difficult to do solo rather than with a school backing you with their name. In my free time, I hang out with what few friends I have either by playing video games or hanging out with them in person. When alone I play a lot of video games, read comics and manga, watch anime, and consume loads of YouTube videos. Like I said, your average twenty-something with no life and a lack of a love life. Ah, the single life… it sucks. Especially when you go on Facebook and see that your best friend gets married and has kids, meanwhile you're that one guy in your circle of friends that's still single af._

 _Out of everything I own, there are three things that I prize the most it's my laptop, my phone, and my car. Why do I prize these things the most even if they're not new or anything? Because I worked my ass off for them and paid for them myself._

 _But my day is pretty routine as it can be. I wake up, I go to work, I come home, and I go to class on days that I'm not working. I try to squeeze in time to work out, but that's usually scarce so I'm not fat by any means, but I am no way looking like Hasselhoff or a bodybuilder. I suppose there's one last thing you should know about me, that being I am a caffeine addict. Sure, it's not nearly as bad as say an actual drug addict or an alcoholic, but that doesn't mean it isn't annoying. Especially when a lack of caffeine can cause massive headaches on my part. Such a headache can cause me to become more of an ass, specifically a condescending ass. Don't get me wrong, I can be an ass but that doesn't mean I can't not be one; more often than not that is the case._

 _That leads me to today. Today is an average summer day in the Midwestern United States. The birds chirping and the sun shining. The humidity though, oh God I hate the humidity. It can make even the mildest eighty-degree day with a breeze turn into a muggy nightmare. My walk from my car to the building my classes take place in is a fairly long one just due to the campus's layout. Don't get me wrong, it's not a mile-long walk, more like a few hundred yards at the most. Not bad during the spring and fall, but a bitch in the winter._

While I'm walking I have my backpack slung over my shoulder. Inside is my fairly beefy laptop (both in size and power) and books that I need for my classes today which primarily consist of a manual for passing an ITIL exam and IT for Managers. I even have a locked handgun case deep inside my backpack as I intend to go down to the range later and practice shooting. And before anyone asks, I do have a concealed carry permit. I know the sidewalk well enough after walking down it for almost two years now that I'm reading an article or two that was shared on Twitter by a few of my favorite internet personalities. I'll be honest, some of the people I follow are absolutely hilarious despite the people that want to shut them down.

I laugh as I see one post. It's the absolute irony of what the person that they screenshot said versus what they say that they stand for. Oh, the delicious hypocrisy. I stopped walking and placed my phone in my pocket and began to look around. Something felt off. Every hair on the back of my neck was standing on end, and I didn't know why. I started to look around and nothing seemed to be off, but at the same time, everything felt… different. As if on demand an odd oval-shaped light appeared in front of me. And it was entirely odd. Me wearing a short-sleeved shirt, it felt like there was static in the air, the kind that you would feel when feeling a Van De Graff generator. This floating light was giving me every red flag imaginable, every instinct told me to run back to my car and drive home, to hell with getting an unexcused absence.

But no matter how much I wanted to run, my feet were rooted in place. I couldn't move at all. In fact, it was like my body was acting independently from my brain. My arm started to move and reach towards the glowing oval that everyone seemed to ignore and walk past no matter how much I mentally screamed for my arm to stop moving. Finally, my fingers touched the surface of the oval. As they did it felt like slime in the sense that it was grabbing onto me and pulling me through despite how much I was pulling against it to let me go. No matter how much I pulled away, it pulled me even harder towards it. In a moment of futility, I pulled with all my strength away from it, unsurprisingly it yanked me back with a much stronger force. So much so that I was pulled entirely through the oval. What happened next was... strange.

Have you ever seen Stargate? I'm talking about both the TV series and the film here. Well, after I passed through the oval, which now I discovered was some sort of portal, there was a stream of stretched out stars passing by me at breakneck speeds that would have been beautiful to look at it if I weren't screaming like a little girl…

Man. Like a man.

A very manly scream that sounded more like a battle cry.

Yeah, let's go with that.

Screaming aside, the stretched-star tunnel led way to another portal where instead of it being green, it was blue. Considering the path of events that led me here, I shouldn't have been surprised to realize that the blue 'portal' was actually the sky. The cloud should have given it away. The fact that I should have noticed said cloud compounded my fear once more when after I passed through this portal I was not on the ground. In fact, I was in the sky. Oh, and not just anywhere on the sky, but several thousand feet up in it.

It was almost like one of those Wile E. Coyote moments where I was floating in the air until I looked down. There were grasslands down below, as there was a lot of green, but what looked like a castle surrounded by a wall in the shape of a pentagon with spokes reaching out towards those walls. If it weren't for the whole life and death, I'm going to die, stick then I'd think that it looked quite interesting. And cue more… manly yelling as I fell. Not like anyone could hear me though, the Mythbusters disproved that myth years ago. Something having to do with passing wind speeds drowning out any sound not said in a helmet.

As the ground grew closer in my line of sight, I started to pray; something that I had not genuinely done in years. I don't quite recall everything I said I'd do in return, but I swear that 'firstborn son' and that church Mexico from that George Lopez skit where he promises to crawl on the steps of that church in Mexico if Max's dog was healed were involved. As the last few yards passed until impact I had a single thought, "Fuck I'm going to die single." Ok, honestly, it was the just dying alone part. Full disclosure though, at least I wasn't burning to death. That HAS to be the worst way to go. Or, a death that ends up on 1000 Ways to Die. Right before impact, I could have sworn that I saw a girl with long, pink hair and thought, "Well, that's certainly odd." And I could have sworn she looked me right in the eye as well.

Then it happened, I hit the ground at terminal velocity. Dust and other natural debris were thrown all over the place. I was hurting, but I wasn't like that unfortunate guy who got his parachute tangled up and fell just right to become a quadriplegic, but like I did a hard belly flop in the pool. I opened my eyes as the dust cleared and emitted an "ow." I mean, everyone would. Somehow I was alive. Oh great, am I going to have to climb up all of those stairs to that church in Mexico, or am I going to have to dedicate my firstborn son to the church or something?

I stood up and shouted at the sky, "Suck it, Isaac Newton!" The dust continued to clear until I saw that I was surrounded in a half-moon like fashion with what looked like high-schoolers dressed in what looked like business casual uniforms and capes of all things. Great, I stumbled onto a LARPing group. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't mind LARPing groups as they're allowed to do their own thing in their spare time. Although, they might not be too keen on me, an outsider not in their group, dropping in to interrupt them. After all, would you like it if someone took you out of character, a character you've spent time in creating a story around and interacting with friends? I thought not. I guess I'll have to play along to get out of here. "Greetings, travelers! I seek the yonder park of fire powered chariots. Might you guide this soul on his way?" I ask in my best 'ye olde' vocal tone. To my actual surprise, no one responded. In fact, there were hushed whispers like one would see at a high school. "Ok, tough crowd." I could definitely tell that none of them spoke English, or at least understood it.

"Umm, sprichst du Englisch? Habla Inglés?" I started asking simple phrases in the few languages I knew outside of English. "Vaabir gar jorhaa'ir English?" I randomly asked in the fictional language for the Star Wars Mandalorians. Seeing as though I was getting nowhere, I expelled as sigh and said, "Ok, guys, can I talk to an adult or someone who might be able to help me? Not that you haven't been a great audience, but I have to be places." I heard a few murmurs in French. How did I know? There are words that use that ç character in them and have a very specific sound. So, I said in a question, "Omelette au fromage?"

There were more murmurs this time now that there was a word that they actually recognized. Thank you, Dexter's Lab! See kids? Cartoons can be good for you! You just have to get through all the crap cartoons out there that aren't worth your time, like Teen Titans Go. Shots fired. Go will never outshine the original Teen Titans series. But that's just a tangent.

An adult with balding hair stepped forward wielding a staff of all things; he was dressed in robes that looked like it would fit in with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. He approached me and I waved slightly in greeting. He turned towards the girl with pink hair and said something to her in French. I have no idea on the specifics, but it sounded like he was talking ABOUT me. Kind of hard to not figure that from the way his speech and mannerisms were done. She pulled out a wand and swished it around saying words I vaguely recognized from what little Latin I knew. And trust me, that vocabulary is very limited. There was a good at the end of the wand, must be an expensive LARPing group to afford something like that so whimsically. I know a few collectors, things like that would be in a glass case if it was from a franchise like Harry Potter.

However, much to my surprise, there was no anticlimactic ending that I was expecting, I mean this is a LARP, but there was an explosion. Smoke enveloped everyone and they were all coughing like they just smoked their first cigarette (or blunt, take your pick). I was shocked to hear voices. But they weren't speaking French, they were speaking English!

"Leave it to the Zero to mess up a simple translation spell," a boy called out in insult.

There was more coughing, myself included. Once the smoke cleared enough I said, "Jesus fucking Christ, the fuck was that?!" The smoke cleared more for me to see that the LARPers were looking right at me. "Uhh… hi?" I asked with a small, nervous wave.

They were so quiet that if a pin dropped you would be able to easily hear it. "THE ZERO GOT A SPELL RIGHT! IT'S THE END OF DAYS!" one boy shouted as he ran away hysterically.

"Well, that escalated quickly." I turned to look at the balding man. "You their teacher or legal guardian or something?"

"I am their professor, yes," he replied.

"You're a professor?" He nodded. "A professor of what?" I ask. Mainly interested who this guy was. I mean, you have an older, balding man that's hanging around kids. Kids that are LARPing. Well, LARPing as far as I'm aware.

"Of magic," he answered with certainty.

Of course, you are. I could only give him a look of 'yeah, right'. "O-okay then," I could only verbally reply. This was getting weird, and not in the interesting kind of way. "So where am I and where is the nearest bus station? I kind of have somewhere to be."

"You are in Halkgenia, and what's a bus station?"

I could only give him the most dumbfounded of dumbfounded looks. "Ok, listen," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose, "you can drop the act."

"Act? What act?" he asked innocently. This guy was really trying my patience.

"This!" I exclaimed, gesturing around me making sure to get everyone and everything around me pointed to with my open arms. "This whole Live Action Role Play session!"

"Role play?" one of the bustier students asked with a wry grin. Obviously, she knew more about sexual escapades than her peers because they just looked at him blank faced.

"Yes!" I continued to rant onward. "This whole act of magic and castles! That shit ain't real!" Despite the fact that castles were, but I was getting too hot-headed to care. "I don't care what you do on your own as I don't give a flying fuck! But I need to get back to what I was doing, so any help in that department would be greatly appreciated," I finally concluded.

The crowd was silent once more. I don't know if they were debating whether to break character or because they hadn't heard someone curse before. I was leaning on the latter. I mean, granted, they were kids and high school age at that, but even I was swearing like a sailor in my freshman year of high school. I think it had something to do with being raised in a very sheltered house.

The 'teacher' was the first to snap out of his silence. "I'm afraid that's not possible," he said with remorse.

"Professor said what now?" I asked in turn, oddly enough turning towards him, my eyebrow twitching.

"You were summoned here and cannot leave."

I walked very slowly towards the professor so that I was in his face borderline nose-to-nose. "Why?" I growled low enough for most to pick up on the implications of violence if I didn't like the answer. I could tell based on the professor's eyes that he was scrambling for an answer to appease me. He took a step back from me, not knowing what I could do. Hell, I didn't either because of my current state of mind. Normally, I wouldn't hurt a fly, but someone forcing me against my will to keep me here when I obviously didn't want to be here flipped a kind of switch. That kind of switch that animals and people feel when they're cornered and won't go down without a fight.

"We have a ritual every year in which our students summon a familiar," he started to explain.

"A familiar?" He nodded. "As in animal or beast that is bound to a magician for some kind of symbiotic relationship?" He nodded once more, his eyes brightening in the realization that I knew what he was talking about. The only reason I knew was because of fan fiction on the internet using that trope so many times.

"Yes!"

"And what do I and this ritual have to do with this?"

"One of my students summoned a familiar, but you appeared instead."

I paused and started thinking of the ramifications. "So, you're telling me that one of your students tried to summon a familiar, and I appeared?" He nodded. "And since I am this person's 'familiar' I'm supposed to be bound to them for all of eternity?" He nodded once more. "Yeah, I'm going to have to pass," I dismiss the 'proposal'.

While the professor was stone-faced, I would have hated to play against him in poker, there was one girl that looked both angry and depressed at the same time. "Why?" she asked. I could have sworn that a tear was snaking its way down her face but I wasn't sure.

As I did, I saw that there were other creatures standing near the other kids. Some were pretty benign that wouldn't be out of place at a park or a pet store. But then there was one that stood out that couldn't be anything but unnatural. It was a dragon. Not a kimono dragon or a Gila monster, but an outright dragon from fairy tales from the medieval era. You know, the winged lizards of fire-breathing death. Think Skyrim… No. More like Salamance from Pokémon in terms of form and shape. There was no way that could exist in real life. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and checked the top status bar to see that I had no signal at all. Which was bizarre. Even in the middle of the Black Hills, I had a 1x connection. Not enough for an internet signal, but enough to call 911. And that was in the middle of a mountain range, mind you; I'm currently in what looked to be a place on the plains. I should at least have an emergency signal to dial for help given the environmental circumstances. But I had nothing, nothing at all.

As I saw this, it dawned on me: I wasn't on Earth anymore. This whole magic thing, even if I was beyond skeptical on that, the mythical beasts, the lack of cell coverage, and people dressed in what looked like hybridized Eastern inspired school uniforms with cloaks outright convinced me. You just can't make this shit up. Ok, to be honest, the person holding a flame in their hand sealed the deal. So many questions ran through my mind. One, for example: will I ever see my friends and family again?

"Why you stupid familiar!" a girl's voice shouted. I turned to see a girl's foot flying into my stomach. Unsurprisingly, it was the girl with pink hair from before who was currently kicking me in the gut. I doubled over and lost my balance to the point where I was on the ground on my back. This put me in quite the perilous position as said girl from before was straddling me somehow managing to keep me pinned. How such a small girl could possess such strength, I did not know. Mainly because, A) I was taller than her, and B) I was pretty sure she wasn't that heavy; hell, I had lifted heavier bags of salt. Personally, I'm going to blame the wing getting knocked out of me by that kick to the gut. Without warning, she leaned down and kissed me on the lips.

Apparently, it was then my breath caught up to me because I reacted in shoving her off of me. I wiped off my mouth with my sleeve and stared her down. "What the hell is wrong with you? Kissing a guy like that," I chided. "One might think that you want to get me arrested for some kind of anime-style misunderstanding which brings on the Transformers meme of police overreaction."

She huffed as she got off of me. "The ritual is now complete," she smugly huffed.

"What in the hell are you-?" I asked as I felt a kind of tingly feeling in my right hand. And not the good kind of 'tingling'. The kind that makes you wonder if you just had a stroke or heart attack. It took only a short few seconds before I realized why. My hand started to burn. Oh, not like a sunburn, but like someone was pressing a branding iron to the top of my hand. So, unsurprisingly I looked down in horror to see, wait, were those Nordic runes or something? Don't ask me how I know, blame three, one hundred-hour, one hundred percent runs in Skyrim. Don't judge me. Where was I? Oh, yeah. The branding. To summarize, it was extremely painful. To which I manly blacked out. Yeah, let's go with that.

To say that it was more like a dream than straight blackness would have been an understatement. You ever see _Star Wars Episode III_? Specifically, the scene where Anakin has his dream vision? Yeah, it was kind of like that, but pastel colored and animated for some reason. Don't ask why, because I sure as hell don't know. I heard voices, voices that sounded like they were doing that stereotypical 'prophecy' kind of tone, that being cold and slightly aloof. Although, I couldn't quite make out what they were saying. It sounded very garbled, kind of like when you went underground or a bridge when trying to listen to AM radio stations. To make things more confusing, images just flashed past in a way that would have made those with photosensitivity drop to the floor in a seizure. It was kind of like back in _Mass Effect_ when Shepard was exposed to the Prothean beacon. That being that unless somehow my brain was hooked up to a DVR there was no way of telling what I saw.

But I had no time to really think about that because the next thing I knew I was on something fluffy, kind of like a cloud. Oh, and I had a migraine that would kill lesser men and my hand was still sore. My eyes slowly opened to see the top of a canopy bed. Like one of those four-poster types that you see fancy, rich people having that literally serves no purpose other than vanity. I mean, all you need is a mattress on a wooden frame to keep it off of the ground, that's all. This, this was gaudy. I slowly got up and saw that I was still wearing what I was wearing the other day, that being my Batman 'Not a Morning Person' t-shirt and jeans. Even my shoes were on. Why the hell would I leave my shoes on when sleeping in a bed? I mean, I wear these things and I don't know what's on them, why would I bring that into a bed and dirty it? That's just nasty.

Closing my eyes once more I sat up, swung my legs over the side of the bed, stood up and stretched in the warmth that the sunlight that was coming through the window gave me. I'm not a morning person like my shirt so blatantly says, but for some reason, it felt good to wake up right about now. When I opened my eyes I had to outright slap myself to see if I was dreaming. In front of me, well out of the window, was a courtyard in front of a castle. The same castle that I could have sworn was a dream, a very surreal dream in which a dragon… And then I saw the dragon down below, the same one from yesterday. For the record, the slap hurt like a bitch. My eyes lowered slowly to my right hand and my eyes widened in horror to see those runes from before looking like some kind of edgy tattoo on my skin sitting there greyed out. I rubbed it instinctually and felt nothing but skin. No scarring or burns at all. It was beyond weird in a surreal sense, but also in horrifying realization.

I was still in this weird land. I was bound to a little girl (apparently, although I would have to test that) for the rest of eternity. I had this gaudy tattoo on my hand that didn't look badass at all and that had little meaning to me other than horror at the moment. I would never see my family again. I would never get to see my friends again. I would never get to pay off my car, something I worked my ass off to own. Seeing as there was almost no one up, I decided to go for a walk. I walked over to my backpack, which had been haphazardly thrown into the corner, and pulled out the lockbox containing the pistol I owned. I strapped the holster on and placed the pistol with a loaded magazine inside of it, then I pulled my shirt over it making it concealed. I looked behind me to see the pink haired girl from the other day who was still sleeping. I didn't bother her, if she had to go to school it was up to her to take personal responsibility. And so, I closed the door so the only noise it made was a small click.

Walking the campus took a while. I first walked near the wall which made the outer portion of the campus. The walls were definitely time period accurate for their construction, that much was certain. But there was something about the stones themselves, when I placed my hand near them they seemed to hum with energy. But what could be the reason for that? There were groundskeepers that went about their day in keeping the campus looking prim and proper, or at least that's what I assumed it to be. They gave me a single glance and a small smile in greeting, to which I waved back in return before they went back to their work. There were a few students roaming about, but I paid them no heed as they didn't pay me any attention; it was like they were trying to pretend that I didn't exist. Which was fine, fuck them as they're acting like little shits. Wait, rephrase that. Get those thoughts out of your head.

As I walked along, I started getting hungrier than before. You, know, stomach growling and all that. But my savior was my humble nose which was picking up the sweet, sweet smell of bacon in a frying pan. I was like one of those cartoon characters who was floating in mid-air while the scent pulled me along, but, you know, I was actually walking instead of floating. When I metaphorically ran into a door, because I'm not in a cartoon, I opened said door to see an entire cafeteria (or mess hall, take your pick). The hall was practically filled except for a few tables which suggested a few of the students hadn't come down yet. I picked a table that was near the door and sat down. Every instinct was telling me to choose the door for a quick escape if needed.

I sat down and a fairly attractive, yet young, maid approached me. "Good morning, my lord. What can I get for you?" she asked kindly.

"Bacon, eggs, some toast, and the blackest coffee you have," I reply, playing along. Coffee had to be a global staple for those who woke up this early, right?

She seemed to look a bit confused and tilted her head. "My lord, what's coffee?" Apparently, coffee was not on the menu.

"Ok, eighty-six the coffee. Juice or something instead." The maid nodded and left. I started to get worried, I would have to figure out a new source of caffeine if I wanted to remain functional here in the slightest. I sat at the table quietly, ignoring the glares that the others shot me.

It wasn't long until the maid girl returned carrying a plate with eggs, bacon, and toast and in her other hand was what appeared to be Orange juice. "Here's your food," she cheerfully said as she set them in front of me. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

I picked up a knife and fork and said, "Not at the moment. I'll call you over if I need something." She bowed and left just as gracefully and quietly as she appeared.

And with that, I started eating with the restraint that other people were in the room, otherwise, I would have scarfed it down with little restraint. I hadn't eaten anything in what seemed like days, although I was unsure how long I was actually out. I mean, when I passed out it was daytime and it was daytime now but breakfast was on tap, so I could have been out for a few hours, or days. I ate in peace until I was rudely interrupted.

"You stupid familiar!" a girl shouted angrily. Out of instinct, I ducked to avoid a shoe thrown at my head that slammed into another person, but my attention was elsewhere so I didn't sew who that unfortunate soul was. "You were supposed to wake me up and dress me!" she demanded. "You're useless if you can't do that!"

I held up a single finger as I drank my juice to say 'hold on', I only set it down when I placed my glass down on the table. "So, let me get this straight," I trail as I give her a side-eye glare. "You expect me, a grown man, to wake you up and dress you?"

"Yes! Are you mentally deficient?!" she harped.

"No, I want to make sure I heard you clearly," I reply coolly. "You really are a brat," I slowly say with as much venom as a calm voice can carry. Honestly, I scared myself even on how it came out. "You expect everyone do everything for you. You take zero responsibility for your own actions. You chose to sleep in and not set some kind of alarm. You chose to not get dressed yourself. And God knows what else you blame on others for your own shortcomings." I slowly stand up and walk over to her so that I'm standing well over her to the point where she had to look up at me with a craned neck.

"I am your master and you will obey me!" she shouted indignantly brandishing her magic wand.

Before she could do anything with it, I snatched it from her and placed it on the table behind me. It was out of my hands so people couldn't accuse me of theft, but at the same time it was out of her reach and she couldn't use it. "No, I won't," I sternly replied as if I were talking to a petulant younger sibling. "You really don't get it, do you? You think you can bully me into doing what you want just because I'm not from here and you think I'll just lay down and forfeit my right to autonomy? But the thing is, you're powerless, and I'm not referring to some deficiency in aptitude in whatever arcane voodoo that you perform here. I have no reason to follow you or obey any order you throw my way. I stand to gain nothing. I'll give you this one chance to convince me, you have two minutes to change my mind. The clock is ticking."

Immediately, she started to sputter spewing forth incoherent words and phrases. One of the most commonly repeated ones was that: A) I was a commoner, and B) I was her familiar. There were other things like that should be making her bed, dressing her, and doing every little thing she wanted just because I was somehow bound to her, but I had no urges in my subconscious to do that. If this is what they thought a Familiar Bond was, or whatever they called it was, they needed to perform more research into it because they were sorely lacking.

"Your two minutes are up," I said with finality. By this time her incoherent shouting had gathered a crowd that surrounded both of us. "As to your comments about me being a lowly commoner, that is something that I would like to correct for the record. My ancestor was knighted by the king of a country that is far away from here, so me and my family aren't commoners." Technically, this was true. My great and then some grandfather was knighted in Switzerland over a thousand years ago, but that meant jack squat in this day and age; or, at least in my day and age, to these people it meant more so I guess a little fibbing will help me. And I was right as their eyes widened in both shock and amazement. Probably the latter directed towards pinkette as she managed to summon a knighted family, soldiers, warriors. "Familiars are meant to be symbiotic, do you even know what that means? That means when you give something, you get something in return; if you get something, you give something in return. Quid pro quo." I made sure to tower over her, to make her as physically uncomfortable as possible… not like that you pervs. "Until you present a logical argument as to why I should even assist you, you can forget about me 'serving' you."

And with that, I left the hall in silence.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **That's all I have for this time. What did you think of it? I do apologize for not getting more of these out sooner, stuff happened and I was unable to. In fact, about two weeks ago I went to an anime convention and had a great time. I got the missing volume of K-On I was missing; don't give me crap about that series, I like it as a fun series. I got some risqué manga from a certain group responsible for the infamous "Mega Milk" shirt making those certain mangas available here in the West called Fakku (don't go to their site unless you're legal age and all that). I got a plushie that's an octopus wearing an ice-cream cone. And I got a character figurine from Saekano. So, yeah, I had a great time. I'm definitely going again next year. The only regrets I had was not going to a John St. John panel (the voice of Duke Nukem) and not getting a picture with this cute chick dressed as Seras from Hellsing. Oh well, maybe next year.**

 **But long diatribe aside, let's get down to what I want to have done with this story?**

 **Well, I definitely want to do more of me being an asshole in this universe because certain characters have it coming. We all know which ones they are. I want to do more personal reactions and replies to events as me and not Saito because I can be a real cynical asshat at times. I don't know if I'll do any pairings just because I'm, even as myself, older than these characters and that would be slightly creepy even with this being set in medieval times where marriages between younger girls and older guys were commonplace; today that's both creepy and illegal. Perhaps I could work off of that? Culture shock and all that. I guess that's something to keep in mind if I were to continue on this one.**

 **But what did you guys think? No notes this time around, I sort of got lazy. But I definitely have one more self-insert style pilot coming out barely based on that Blood Brandy challenge, and I mean barely mainly because it does start in Vegas. But you'll hopefully see that one soon because I thought it was an interesting idea. It does sort of skirt the line between original fiction and fanfiction though, so that'll be interesting. Hopefully, I'll see you all there for the next installment in this thing. See ya!**


	37. A SW x Kantai Collection pilot

**Alright, so here's another idea.**

 **So, for a while I've been looking at the** _ **Kancolle**_ **series and I've seen a few interesting stories. One of these is called "Belated Battleship" by Obsessed Nuker (** id: 11574990 **). It's a story about the** _ **USS New Jersey**_ **, an** _ **Iowa**_ **-class battleship who gets summoned by the Americans to help fight the Abyssal forces hand in hand with the Japanese and European forces. It an interesting one with lots of fluff and comedy, a nice story that I would highly recommend. A second is "Rise of Leviathan" by BlackAdder42 (** id: 12232670 **) which is a Kancolle and Halo crossover where some of the UNSC ships are summoned into the Kancolle (anime) universe. It's another interesting series that's been pretty good so far so hopefully it goes far.**

 **Then I had an idea: what if I did something similar to this but with** _ **Star Wars**_ **vessels? What if I took some of the most beloved vessels and gave them personalities and appearances that are as unique as they are? What if they had to work together to defeat the Abyssal forces, that being both Rebellion and Imperial vessels? Well, doesn't that sound like an interesting idea?**

 **I will say that there is another inspiration for this story, that being "Welcome to the club" by Malicean (** id: 10174174 **). Now the reason for this is that in the story the crew of the** _ **Executor**_ **, yes, the Super Star Destroyer, refer to her as "The Lady" and appears to have some kind of hyper-advanced, self-aware AI suite built into her systems who seems to care for her crew, even for Luke and Vader despite Luke is considered an "enemy" early on. I won't spoil the rest of the story, but I highly recommend reading it as it is a good read bringing in old EU characters with an interesting hypothetical question that's posed to the readers.**

 **But enough about vastly superior stories to mine (in my opinion) and let's get this show on the road.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney and** _ **Kantai Collection**_ **(** _ **Kancolle**_ **) belongs to Kadokawa. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

 _Narration._

XxXxXxX

 _Sometimes, pleas can reach across space and time. Factions, once enemies to one another decades before, now fight together against an enemy united to free their seas and those that they fight on behalf of. But sometimes, those pleas can extend further than anticipated to a whole new breed of vessel._

XxXxXxX

 _ **Executor  
**_ **Battle of Endor  
5 ABY**

The Imperial Super Star Destroyer (more aptly a Super Star Dreadnought) Executor looked upon the final battle between the Rebellion scum and the glorious Empire she was built to serve and protect. At the end of the day, the Rebellion would be crushed and she would celebrate with her crew. The crew called her the Lady. They referred to her like she was a benevolent god providing protection and safety to her people and punishing all those that would harm her family. Her crew. She could feel on her decks the boots of rushing pilots heading to their fighters and crew members tapping away at their stations pointing her glorious guns at the enemy to turn them into stardust. She could feel the hits she was taking from that enemy Mon Cala cruiser called the _Home One_. Oh, she hated that ship. It taunted her. What the Lady had in arms, the _Home One_ had in armor and shielding. One might say she envied the enemy on that alone.

She could feel every hit she was taking from the enemy vessels and the swarms of enemy snubfighters swarming around her, trying to get a lucky shot in. She could feel the transponders of her own TIE Fighters swarming in response to fight them off. During the battle, something changed. She felt the shield surrounding the Death Star drop and comm signals from the surface on both Imperial and Rebel bands reporting that the shield generator complex had been destroyed. The two entire squadrons of fighters immediately started to swarm the one major weak point on the battle station, something that she was baffled hadn't been sealed shut for the duration of the battle: an access shaft large enough for a Corellian freighter to fit down… and there it went.

There were times when the Lady had to question Imperial logic. Sure, it made sense to destroy their enemies with extreme prejudice, but why they never double-checked things before putting a plan into action baffled her.

Then it happened. She felt her shields shudder as her bridge was exposed. She felt like something was there before it suddenly disappeared. She realized it was one of her primary shield generators. She felt her crew scramble to get the shields to coalesce and cover the now naked bridge. She could take a beating, but even ships as large as her can only take so much punishment. The Rebel fighters were sticking to her cityscape which made her point defense guns Almost useless, she had to wholly depend on her fighters and other smaller escort vessels which seemed to be almost suspiciously absent. There were two fighters that she spotted and had a clear shot at and took that shot. The X-Wing took the full brunt of a turbolaser blast, the A-Wing took shrapnel from its former comrade and started to spin out of control. Almost anticlimactically, she felt the impact of a single A-Wing hit her bridge and explode.

Immediately, she felt herself lose control of her own guidance systems. They locked up in an awkward position causing her to careen towards the Death Star II. She fought against it, but she was already on a collision course that couldn't be averted. The Lady held one duty at the moment, and that was to her crew. She sounded the klaxon to abandon ship. She knew that everyone wouldn't make it out, there were almost three-hundred thousand crew members. There was no way that all of them were going to get to escape pods, shuttles, and any unlaunched TIEs. If there was one thing that she had to criticize her builders at Kuat Drive Yards, it was that there were definitely not enough escape pods for the crew to escape in the extremely unlikely chance that she was to go down. As the curvature of the Death Star became more pronounced, she had the thought that a lot of KDY's ships were pretty ill equipped to save their crews in the case of disaster.

She felt a few hundred escape pods launch from their bays and a few shuttles and TIEs attempt to abandon ship. But for everyone else, she was 'falling' quickly towards the surface of the massive battle station. A few picoseconds before she hit the surface, she sent a small missive towards the fleet as well as the Death Star of a small 'I'm sorry'. As the tip of her bow touched the surface of the battle station, she felt the durasteel frame she was built upon start to buckle and collapse under the gargantuan mass behind the impact. Reactors were punctured and exploded outward.

To those watching, the Super Star Dreadnaught _Executor_ went down in a spectacular blaze. To the vessels of the Rebel Alliance, cheers broke out in seeing the flagship of the Empire going down. To the Imperial vessels, they cried out in terror at their Lady going down. The Lady knew no more as the fire that her own superstructure fueled the fire that consumed her. The Battle of Endor would end less than one Galactic Standard hour later when the Death Star exploded.

But the journey of the _Executor_ , the Lady, was far from over.

XxXxXxX

 _ **Raddus**_ **  
Near Crait  
30 ABY**

The cruiser _Raddus_ was not having a good week. She had been recalled from the Outer Rim to come back to the D'Quar Resistance base to evacuate the remaining members of what was little more than a planetary militia. Don't get her wrong, she loved her crew and the passengers, but she was tired and annoyed. She had been bombarded by the massive Star Dreadnought owned by the First Order. She was outright convinced that by her appearance the vessel was shirt and fat and her weapon complement was overcompensating for something. A snicker appeared in her mind as she thought that. But that laugh came with a sharp pain as she remembered the damage that had been wrought upon her.

Her hangars were in shambles, that being those that would launch her fighter complement. Her bridge was slag from the son of her captain. And her rear was being hammered by turbolaser bombardment from the _Supremacy_ for many hours now and she was running low on energy. Don't get her wrong, she wasn't going to give up, but every vessel had a breaking point and she was nearing hers. Based on the events of the last few minutes she had to question her only occupant's intelligence levels.

First, she replied on her fame alone as a rear admiral to convince the crew that she had a plan with their best interest in mind. That backfired gloriously when the commander (captain) of her fighter squadrons led a mutiny that no one stood in opposition against her. Every one of the remaining crew was in full defense of Poe Dameron. While she thought that Poe's plan was foolhardy at best, but it gave the crew hope, something that Holdo's lack of communication didn't give the crew. In hindsight, _Raddus_ thought that if Holdo had said that she had a plan in order to give them hope that they might see tomorrow, Poe would have never gone through with his plan and there would be more crew safe than there was now.

She also had an issue with how the admiral conducted her plan. _Raddus_ was a large cruiser with many hard points for docking. If it were up to her she would have brought in the three frigate sized ships that were once part of her fleet under her shield and would share resources between them in order to keep resources from being wasted. But that was all in the past. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, they say.

Now, she was furious. At her only occupant, at the First Order, and at the unfairness of it all. Her crew was slowly getting picked off one by one. Methodically, even. She could feel the smugness rolling off of the _Supremacy_ and her fleet. She wanted to wipe the smugness right off their faces, and it seemed as though the admiral had the same idea, albeit much slower than her because she was a machine with astonishingly fast processing while the admiral was wholly organic.

She felt the safeties being released from the hyperdrive, specifically the safeties that prevented a ship from jumping when a solid mass was in front of them. She knew what the admiral wanted to do, she wanted to ram them at lightspeed. There were only three people that could remove those safeties: the manufacturer of the hyperdrive, the head engineer of the vessel itself, and the current captain of the vessel. The admiral put the coordinates into her navicomputer and she turned about to face the massive First Order ship. She gunned her engines making a beeline for the ship. She shifted her shields forward right as turbolaser fire started to wash over her.

The _Supremacy_ stopped firing on the small, defenseless transports and focused all of their fire on her. She felt the lever to activate her hyperdrive get pulled, and at the same time internally smirked. A picosecond before the hyperdrive kicked in, she sent a message to the _Supremacy_ saying, "It's a trap." She might as well honor one of Ackbar's greatest quoted lines in history after the Rebellion rightfully kicked the Empire to the curb.

The instant that her hyperdrive kicked in, the _Raddus_ knew no more but darkness. But to those that did watch, the _Raddus_ went out with a bang. With her one, final stunt, she took out more than a dozen _Resurgence_ -class destroyers and crippled the _Supremacy_ indefinitely. If the _Raddus_ was somehow still conscious, she would have been satisfied with her final kill count. The _Raddus'_ sacrifice would give the remaining members of the Resistance time to eventually escape down to the planet; from there their fate is in their own hands.

But like the _Executor_ , her journey isn't complete either.

XxXxXxX

 _ **Chimaera  
**_ **Unknown Regions  
45 ABY**

The _Imperial I_ -class Star Destroyer _Chimaera_ was what many considered to be an 'old maid'. She had been around for almost sixty years in active service. She had seen the rise of the Empire's greatest enemy, the Rebellion and had participated in many campaigns against them as the flagship of the greatest of Grand Admirals that graced the face of the galaxy, Mitth'raw'nuruodo. Or, as many knew him, Thrawn. She served the Grand Admiral faithfully alongside his second in command Pelleon for many years until Thrawn was unceremoniously betrayed by Rukh, his bodyguard. She remembered that day vividly. Thrawn was about to crush the New Republic with his genius tactical analysis and execution only to be stabbed in the back just before the apex of victory. She wept that day. A commander she had faithfully and happily served under for over a decade died.

From there, she remained in the Empire for a while until the New Republic and Imperial Remnant joined forces during the Yuuzahn Vong War and eventually became the Galactic Alliance. From there she served with the GA during the Second Galactic Civil War started by Jacen Solo. Now that war was over and was reassigned to near the Unknown Regions to take care of shakedown runs. She was old and she knew it. Her hardware was outdated even if weapons didn't evolve that much over the years, they did get more powerful at times and got more accurate. She was a relic of an old age; old ages if you wanted to get specific, she belonged in a museum. Well, at least by current standards. But she still had the fighting spirit in her to put up one more fight.

However, much to her wishes, that would not come to pass. She would not go out in a blaze of glory like the _Executor_ or many other vessels on both the Rebellion and Empire had done before her. No, she was outrunning a supernova and losing. Her crew was panicking and there wasn't a thing that she could do to reassure them that they would make it out alive. The escape pods wouldn't be able to outrun a supernova. The fighters wouldn't be able to as it would catch up too quickly. Frankly, she and her crew were boned and there was nothing that they could do that would get them home safe. She lamented that fact.

There were emergency comms that went out from her to all parts of the galaxy to loved ones of her crew stating the situation and that they weren't going to make it out alive. The safeties that kept her ship from jumping had been engaged and the engineering crew worked tirelessly in trying to get them to open up and allow them to risk a risky jump into hyperspace to escape the fireball of death and destruction coming their way.

However, much to the dismay of her crew, the cloud of death speeding along at light speed caught up with them as they were only traveling at sublight and consumed them. To everyone on board, along with _Chimaera_ , it was a quick death. One moment they were alive, the next they were atomized in less than a blink of an eye.

But like the _Executor_ and _Raddus_ , the _Chimaera_ 's journey was not yet at an end.

XxXxXxX

 **Meanwhile, in a place farther than the universe…**

On a little ball of rock aptly named by its inhabitants as 'Earth', war was a constant threat to the people of it for millennia. In the entire history of the planet, humans had killed each other indiscriminately for centuries with little peace worldwide except for a small 10-year period or so. If there was one guarantee about this planet, is that somewhere at any one time there was one person killing another in the name of a religion, a cause, or for their country (or for the lack of one, like in the case of revolutionaries or anarchists).

On this ball of dirt, the human race faced another war. Not one from a specific nation, but one from the mysterious naval forces of the Abyssal fleet; an entity which showed no quarter or mercy for civilian or military forces alike. Any country that was next to a body of water was instantly vulnerable to attack at any time. The military of Japan mobilized in response to attacks on civilian populations but was defeated not by superior equipment, but what looked like girls bearing miniaturized versions of hardware mounted on warships. While human casualties were low, the loss of many ships was a blow to the fledgling, reemerged military whose restrictions from the Second World War had been repealed to allow them to defend their homeland. Japan wasn't the only country that was affected.

The countries that were more landlocked and could provide for themselves and their people were better off than countries like Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Japan in terms of resources and the ability to provide for their people. Japan had to constantly ferry in supplies from other nations like Russia, China, and South Korea usually at higher than normal rates due to both demand and the danger factor. The short of it was that Japan and other island-like nations were screwed and they were on a slow decline to extinction. But hope was not entirely lost.

After months of intense study from religious factions and occultic scholars, an answer was found to what these beings were and how to defeat them. These beings were the spirits of fallen war vessels that were now attacking those they once served. So, a counter-offensive was initiated. The knowledge that these were deceased spirits of fallen vessels got one occultic scientist to start thinking, 'what if we summoned some of our own ships to fight for us?' An excellent question, and with that began the long and arduous task of finding out how to actually summon a ship. Long story, and weird explanation, short, they managed to figure out how to summon girls who were the embodiments of vessels long since sunk. Knowledge of this was passed along to various nations to assist them in their own defenses, but none where it was needed most than Japan did.

Within the year, the nations of Japan and the United Kingdom had an entire fleet (individually) of ship-girls that were once ships belonging to that nation to fight against the Abyssal fleet. Sure, it wasn't perfect and the nations suffered less, but it was far from perfect. Ship-girls helped escort modern age ships carrying supplies from allied nations which put less pressure on local growers and ranchers to provide for an entire nation while on a quota. While things were better for these nations, they were far from perfect.

The reasoning for this explanation is because at one of the secretive bases in the Pacific Theater in which these ship-girls were summoned had been discovered and was under attack from the Abyssal fleet localized in the area. This was, of course, a solid tactic: take out the places where your enemy was generating their weapons that they were using against you.

The small island off the coast of Japan had been a spiritual hotspot of activity making it a nexus perfect for summoning ship-girls. The island base was being shelled by Abyssal ships and bombarded by their aircraft. In a desperate act of desperation, the small garrison of soldiers of mixed origins (that being Japanese, Korean, and American) attempted to summon a ship-girl, or three, to save their 'bacon'. Attached to each base was a 'summoning specialist', someone who was capable of summoning a ship-girl when required or requested. Right as the 'ritual of summoning' was completed and the magical circle had been activated, a bomb belonging to an Abyssal bomber came through the bunker's ceiling and killed everyone within.

In the center of the magical circle, a black hole-like void appeared. Everything was sucked into it that wasn't nailed down and wasn't living. Guns, concrete, shrapnel, computer consoles, and bodies were sucked into the void. The only thing that remained were dog tags of the fallen. One soldier who had yet to die saw something that would stick with him through death and would follow him into the next life. The void collapsed and exploded outward in a flash of light that when it faded revealed the crumpled forms of three girls dressed rather peculiarly.

The first was the smaller of the three who seemed to wear an officer's outfit of pure white and on it had a strange insignia of which half looked like a wheel with spokes and the other half was a kind of wedge or bird. While much shorter than the other two, she looked to be much older than them; it wasn't an appearance thing, but an aura of wisdom and knowledge that can only be gained through years of experience. Her hair was of a blue-black texture that made it look like the vast void of space. The second girl was taller than the first by a few inches and she was dressed completely different. She wore a leather jacket on top of a plain work t-shirt with pants that had a red strip running the length of the pants, and on Her shoulder was a red, bird-like emblem. Her hair was tied up in a bun that implied that she knew something about fashion or cared about her physical appearance to others regardless of what she wore. Her hair was of a chestnut-brown. The third girl was the tallest of the three by a solid foot, making her appear almost Amazonian by comparison. She wore what looked like a catsuit that looked more appropriate in a BDSM fetish club without the shine that latex had rather than some kind of uniform. She also had a cap on her head that looked like an old German officer's hat had that wheel with spokes on it, but unlike the first girl was of the whole emblem and not half of it.

The three simultaneously groaned and stood up. They got to their feet relatively quickly but didn't look at each other, at least, not immediately.

"My head," one girl complained, the one in the jacket, as she placed her hand on her head. "Who knew slamming into a larger ship at lightspeed would hurt so much?" The soldier placed her accent that of an American, or Canadian, and from the west coast.

"At least you had the pleasure of it happening quickly," the second girl complained, this one being the one in the catsuit. She had a very high British accent, like those used by the Queen and the royal family. That being of high society and stature. "I had to experience every agonizing picosecond of slowly crashing into a larger object." She too was grabbing her head.

The third one was groggy, not saying anything, but all of a sudden started patting herself as if trying to put out a fire. When she realized that she wasn't on fire, she cleared her throat as to dispel an awkward moment as the other two were staring at her. "Well, that was unpleasant," she said in a similar accent to the taller girl.

"What happened to you?" the catsuit girl asked.

"Burned up in a supernova," she said somewhat sheepishly.

The catsuit girl saw the jacketed girl out of the corner of her eye and pulled out a pistol. "Who are you? What's your designation?" she demanded.

The jacketed girl noted that it was an SE-14C, a standard issue Imperial era officer's pistol. She held up her hands in a non-threatening gesture. "Raddus, heavy cruiser," the now named jacketed girl replied. Her hand slowly snaked towards the small of her back where she felt a weight.

"Raddus, the name does sound familiar, but I don't recall an Imperial heavy cruiser named that."

"I think it's fair turn to supply your name," Raddus carefully demanded. She could feel the grip of a pistol. A K-16 Bryar pistol if she wasn't mistaken. Raddus knew that this girl had a superiority complex and was going to exploit the hell out of it.

Anticipated, she flipped her hair flippantly and replied, "Executor." However, she said it more like 'Egg-zeg-you-tor' when she said it, it was in that high posh accent.

Raddus tried to keep her shock down to a minimum, but Executor caught the slight twitch. After all, everyone had heard of the massive Star Dreadnought, after all, only five were ever put into production and all five had been destroyed over the years from everything from being attacked to misfortune. Plus, something confused her. Executor went down over Endor during the Battle of Endor; it was a well-documented event. After all, _Home One_ had been the one to record the clearest footage of the massive warship going down. Raddus herself went down in a final ditch suicide run, and this third girl went down in a supernova. For all intents and purposes, they were destroyed with all hands. But they were here, and as humans on top of it. Well, that was on the outside; on the inside she still felt her crew marching about going to their stations awaiting their orders. She felt their footfalls on her decks as they raced to their positions.

"I see you noticed it too," the much older sounding girl stated.

"Explain," Executor demanded. "And what is your designation?"

"I'm surprised it has taken you this long to notice it," the girl explained with an elegance in speech that made Raddus think of someone. Someone who hadn't been seen for many decades and was feared and by the very utterance of his name would cause the pants of those wearing them to become soiled even years after his death. "We are human when we should not be." She started to pace like a cat stalking its prey. "I'm surprised you haven't recognized me, Executor. Don't you remember the name of the vessel of the only non-human Grand Admiral to ever grace the Empire with his intellect?" she asked with a knowing grin.

Executor's eyes narrowed. "Chimaera," she almost seethed.

"Indeed."

"What is your cowardly hull doing here? I thought you ran away when I was destroyed."

"Oh, I'm far from cowardly. It was under Thrawn's command that we almost decimated the New Republic."

Executor scoffed, "Almost?"

"Yes, if it wasn't for the untimely betrayal of my greatest of commander's allies at the precipice of victory with the reveal of what the Empire did to its homeworld, the New Republic would have been decimated and the Empire of the Hand would have taken its place."

This was news to Raddus, she hasn't heard of Thrawn coming back at all to take on the New Republic, he disappeared shortly after the Battle of Endor with a flight path aimed at the Unknown Regions.

This must have caught Chimaera's attention because she added, "But it seems there is even more things at play."

"Elaborate," Executor demanded.

"You should respect your elders," she chided, which caused Executor to blush and emit a 'tch'. "Tell me, what do you know about the name Raddus?"

The dreadnaught shrugged. "Only that he was a Rebel admiral early in the Rebellion."

"Yes, and what is the name of the ship you're currently pointing a blaster at?"

"Raddus."

"Now, why would they name a ship after a leader. I personally don't remember a heavy cruiser named _Raddus_ and I've been in service much longer than you were," Chimaera bragged, obviously poking at the fact that Executor went down in her first major offensive. On her own against a small picket, the Executor's massive presence and escort decimated any opposition but being swarmed by so many fighters and other capital ships it became impossible to not sustain damage. "The begs the question," she trailed as she turned towards Raddus, "what year were you manufactured and what model are you?"

"Twenty years after the Empire's failure at Jakku," Raddus defiantly replied. She paused before continuing, "MC85 Star Cruiser."

All Chimaera could do was hum for a moment, one might have thought it was the sound of her engines based on the frequency used. "There were no MC85's developed by the Mon Cala at that time. By that time the entire galaxy was embroiled in a war with an extragalactic threat."

"What do-?" Raddus asked before she was cut off by an exploding shell that sounded like it was ballistic based on its construction. Said explosion caused the foundation of the structure they were in to shake and loose dust fell to the ground.

"It seems as though our quiet time here has come to an end," Chimaera stated the obvious. "I propose a truce," she suggested.

"A truce? With this Rebel scum?" Executor shouted, insulted at the thought.

"This wouldn't be the first time the Empire and Rebellion came together to face a common threat. I can personally think of two, one of which I personally took part in." She stepped in between the two warships, one of which was definitely not from the same timeline as her and Executor. "What I propose is this: we fight together to find answers regarding why we're here and why we are shaped like humans despite having the feeling of ship interiors. Something else is at play here."

"And is that your opinion or that gained from your former admiral?" Executor prodded.

"It is simple logic. Something brought us here for some reason, and now something else is firing upon us. I think it would be prudent and logical to pool our resources to ensure our survival."

Another rumble happened followed by the loud sound of an explosion, but not much further away than a kilometer. Someone was definitely shelling them. "What makes you think that I, Executor, needs assistance?" the dreadnought asked implying an insult to both ships.

"That's rich, that coming from the 'impressive' ship that was one-shotted by a single out of control A-Wing," Raddus taunted, making sure to input as much venom as possible into a single insult.

Executor gritted her teeth in anger, clearly affected by said insult. Her finger curled around the trigger, and clearly, Chimaera saw that because she interjected, "While I would not put it in such crass of a way, I agree. You forget the absolute basics of ship-based warfare. You need escort vessels that move faster than you can to protect your aft. Your own point defense system is lacking there, just like any Rebel warship." She made sure to lean in closer to Executor. "Whether you want to admit it or not, you need us if not for anything else but for an escort role."

Executor grit her teeth harder. If someone listened closely they would have heard the sound of metal grinding against itself. "Fine!" she shouted in an outburst.

Chimaera turned towards Raddus, "Will you work with us for the time being?"

Raddus considered her options. She only had two, fight or run. Unfortunately, Executor was a larger ship with a larger armament and fighter wing. While she had superior shields and fighter support, the TIE fighters would overwhelm her with the combined firepower from both warships. "Yes, but don't think that I like it," Raddus replied.

"Then we are in agreement," Chimaera stated, "we will join forces until a point in which we can return to our respective forces."

All three of them felt a wave of power that they had never felt before in their lives wash over them. There was a flash of light and all three felt heavier but it was like none of their mass changed, however. It was more like the weight being shifted from one place to another. When the light faded each looked like they had been armored up to a certain extent. Each had a brace which bristled with weapons emplacements. Chimaera had the least amount of eight quad-linked turbolaser cannons, two on her arms and two more on extended hardpoints. Raddus had a similar setup but the weapons looked smaller and were in a different configuration in terms of hard points; hers seems to more in line with attacking head-on rather than the tried and true broadside barrages that Imperial destroyers were able to pull off. Executor, on the other hand, was bristling with weapons emplacements everywhere; arms, legs, head, it didn't matter as she had miniature turbolaser and point defense batteries riddled all over. She was a true force to be reckoned with; in fact, on her left arm, it looked like she had the entire starboard side of her ship on her arm, all of the emplacements moving towards the enemy.

"Now that we are fully operable, let us greet those who gave us such a rude awakening," Chimaera stated. She was letting onto something that the others didn't know and knowing her famous former admiral, they didn't like that.

All three activated their repulsorlift engines currently located in their shoes and floated up towards the broken bunker's ceiling. In their hands, they held blaster rifles. For Raddus it was the Bryar rifle, for Chimaera the TL-50 heavy repeater and for Executor it was the heavy hitting T-21b. As they floated over the island, confirming that they were on a planet, they all reached out with their sensors to find what was shelling them. They were what appeared to be pale girls dressed in form-fitting costumes that were one size too small, which should have been impossible considering they were form-fitting, but somehow these girls pulled it off. The second thing that the three noticed about the girls is that they radiated pure malice. The only thing that Executor could compare it to was either Vader or the Emperor; but when she was in the vicinity of the Death Star she felt the malice rolling off the man, despite the fact she was made to serve his empire, it made her sick just from being around him. These pale girls were radiating a much lesser level of that but still made her feel slightly sick.

Executor raised her blaster, aimed, and pulled the trigger. Out came the lance of a plasma bolt. But something unexpected happened. About a few dozen meters in front of her the bolt exploded into a flash of sparks, and what remained was a trio of TIE Defenders. The TIEs started ducking and weaving around the projectiles fired at them, them being mostly metal pellets fired at barely supersonic speeds pinged harmlessly off their shields and hull.

Not wanting to feel left out, Raddus shouldered her K-16 and felt the instinctual need to pull the trigger three times. When she did, three blaster bolts came out and exploded in a shower of sparks revealing a B-Wing and two X-Wings, they too joined the fray, specifically targeting the pale girls. Chimaera, on the other hand, did nothing. She eyed the horizon as if analyzing an unseen entity. Both Executor and Raddus could hear the pilots inside their heads shouting orders and calling out enemy fighters and seafaring vessels to each other.

"It appears this planet hasn't reached interstellar travel," Chimaera observed. She raised her E-11 rifle and aimed towards where she felt something over the horizon and fired a single bolt towards it. Same as what happened to Executor and Raddus, the bolt exploded into sparks and a single TIE Hunter flew off over the horizon, its s-foils locked into cruising position. With her scout checking in to ensure communications, she turned towards the battle between ships about to erupt.

XxXxXxX

 **Meanwhile…  
Several kilometers away from visual range**

When the alert was heard from Station 7, a mobilization force was immediately sortied upon the Admiral's orders. Response Fleet 2 was sortied to take on this mission. They sailed at three-quarters speed as to conserve fuel for the inevitable battle as well as to get there with all due haste. This had been several hours ago and they were getting close to their objective. The group consisted of a single carrier, three battleships, two frigates, three torpedo cruisers, and a single heavy cruiser.

The island was already coming into sight and the smoke rising didn't look good at all. In the distance, the carrier, the flagship of this response team, felt a ping on her radar. It was moving much faster than any propeller plane, but much slower than a fighter jet; in fact, it was about the right size of one of the many craft that she herself would launch. If her ears weren't deceiving her, she thought that she heard screaming. But it wasn't like the type that you'd heard in a scary movie or hear other people emit when watching scary movies, but it was a kind of solid screech that no human could make.

It was then something streaked past them in the opposite direction. It was black, ball-shaped, and looked like it had wings; but it most certainly did not have any visible engine and those wings looked to be too small to provide adequate lift. Had the Abyssals come up with a new machine of war?

The craft made an impossibly tight turn and headed towards them, buzzing them. The carrier caught the sight of what looked like a fairy dressed in all black, but she couldn't tell if it was a fairy due to it wearing a helmet that hid its facial features.

"What the heck is-?" was the only thing their heavy cruiser got out before the craft sped off towards the island.

"Come on, girls! Double time!" one battleship encouraged, she was an American battleship who had been assigned to their squad not too long ago. Without the word of their flagship, they all went to full speed ahead towards the island in unison. But when they got there less than ten minutes later, what they saw shocked them to their core.

There were three girls there. But that was not what shocked them. It was the fact that they were deploying fighter escort support and raining hellfire on the Abyssal task force that was tasked with destroying the base. The one the looked like she had an entire fleet's worth of weapons on her right arm opened fire and the distance between the two sets of ships was bathed in green lances of light so thick it was impossible for anything to get through it. The beams first started spraying like water out of a blocked hose, but slowly the paths of those beams focused on the Abyssal ships causing massive gaping holes that were edged with molten, chitinous metal.

Lances of crimson shot out of the other ship as well which found their targets much quicker. The only girl not firing a single shot was the smallest of the three. She seemed to be examining every movement, every reaction that the Abyssal vessels were performing. There were fighters flying around the Abyssals showing multiple designs making it appear that they were made by two different factions. Which begged the question, which of the two were carrier-class? One was blatantly obvious, but the other, not so much.

Finally, missiles were launched from the strange t-shaped fighter which hit the main Abyssal ship-girl causing her to explode in a fireball of quickly expanding gasses. The rest of the animal-like Abyssal ships were pierced by the lances of light sent from the two-unknown ship-girls causing them to explode as well. It was only after the sounds of battle settled that the girls noticed that these new, unknown girls were _**flying**_. The fighters returned to who launched them. The odd tri-winged, ball fighters returned to the massive ship-girl and the t and x winged fighters returned to the girl who looked like she had more organic armor.

A final fighter, the same that the group saw earlier, landed on the smaller ship-girl's finger like a butterfly. The top of it popped open to show a miniature figure clad in a black suit not dissimilar to the one ship-girl. It took off its helmet to show that it was, in fact, a fairy. It saluted the girl dressed in white and 'spoke' in its chirpy voice. The girl nodded and the fighter and the fairy disappeared, remerging with its ship once again. The girl in white signaled to the others and they approached at surprisingly high speeds.

The girls in the water-bound group hoisted their weapons, but their flagship waved them off. The three didn't have their weapons raised, but it was apparent that they were relatively new as their turrets still tracked them, their subconscious minds still considering them a threat for the moment. However, the one in white seemed calm, almost too calm if she wanted to get picky about it.

"Who are you?" the flagship asked.

"If you are asking about designations, I am the _Imperial I_ -class destroyer Chimaera," the girl in white, now known as Chimaera, gestured to herself. She gestured to the girl with the more organic designed armor. "This is the heavy cruiser Raddus." The girl in a leather jacket waved slightly, her turrets following her hand movements. "And this is the _Executor_ -class dreadnaught Executor." The final girl didn't bow nor wave, she was dismissive of them as if they didn't exist; like they were below her. "We would like to speak with whoever is in charge."

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, one more pilot down. That was kind of fun, wasn't it?**

 **Well, I don't really have any numbered notes this time around other than the unnamed girls may be a OC related (but based on real ships) ship fleet, but I do have some ideas on what I sort of want to do with this story should I go forward with it further. The first of which is that I want to incorporate more ships from both Legends and canon sources of Star Wars into this. I love the** _ **Raider II**_ **-class corvette (think of the** _ **Corvus**_ **from Battlefront II [2017]) as well as the** _ **Dreadnaught**_ **-class heavy cruisers both of which have their roots in Legends. I sort of want to build an entire fleet made up of classic and iconic Star Wars capital ships.**

 **This is the primary reason why I had 2 Imperial and 1 "Rebel" ship. Most of the Imperial vessels are destroyed while not many known and named Rebel/New Republic vessels are destroyed by comparison. One thing that I'd want to get my hands on at least figuratively is ships from the Old Republic era. That would be fun.**

 **The second thing is that I don't want this to be a one-sided deal, I want the Abyssals to have some kind of cards up their sleeve for vessels from the Star Wars universe, that's something that I would have to highly consider.**

 **The third thing is that Kancolle, as an anime, is a comedy-drama and that's something that I would have to highlight and explore with these girls pretty much getting Lvl. 10 Culture Shock being in a world which hasn't explored past their moon as well as other things, so that kind of stuff will be interesting.**

 **But let me know what you guys thought of it. Was it good? Was it bad? Like something, not like something? Let me know in the reviews because it helps me become a better writer by proxy.**

 **I'll see you guys all next time in whatever I do next!**


	38. A random GGO:A game mode idea

**Alright, so I'll admit it.** _ **Gun Gale Online: Alternative**_ **is pretty good. It doesn't have Jesus-kun in it except for maybe some mentions and more than likely a cameo appearance, but for all intents and purposes, it's all about different characters. I like that. That, and we actually get to see some of the other game modes that GGO has to offer; that being the currently popular battle royale (with cheese, bonus points if you get the reference) style of game mode that's been popularized thanks to PUBG and Fortnight: Battle Royale. That being said, I wanted to explore an idea in this game world, that being that the World Seed pretty much made VRMMOs open source, who's to say that someone couldn't create a mod, or game mode, to add to one of the currently running games?**

 **That was the idea behind this. What is this game mode? How many of you have watched or played** _ **Rainbow Six: Siege**_ **? It's a pretty fun, if not challenging game because you have to have a very different mindset in it, making it very competitive. That's the game mode that I want to implement in GGO as a game type, a game mode called Siege. This is kind of an idea that opens the possibility for other fanfic writers to take into account when writing stories in this universe, that being the possibility of adding other game modes to an established game to "freshen" it up. That, and I am going to take a few creative liberties, so suspend your disbelief a little here.**

 **That being said, this will primarily be a "prologue" style pilot consisting of an interview type setup with a character based off of my personality being the person interviewed and a random person being the interviewer. That being said, let's get this show on the road!**

 **Title: Laying Siege**

 **Rating: K+ for the pilot, possibility of T for a full story.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Sword Art Online**_ **(the franchise) belongs to Reki Kawahara. I only own my personality. See the forward for the full disclaimer.**

 **By the by, the Alternative and Progressive SAO manga/LNs are pretty good, miles above what originally came out. But that's just my opinion.**

XxXxXxX

In a small dingy bar in the center of Gun Gale Online's main hubworld, a single television, or hologram if you wanted to get really specific, ran showing an online interview between two persons. The first was the channel's primary news anchor for all news GGO. Or, at least that's how it liked to be portrayed. There were hundreds of GGO channels out there that covered news, interviews, analysis of tactics and patches, and so on. The channel's host for the segment was LadyDeath, a former professional GGO player that had found more popularity in the commentary sector rather than livestreaming gameplay, therefore to make a living she changed careers; and considering that she had been doing it for almost a year it must have been good money. She was currently dressed in her character's famous outfit, that being what looked like a reaper's cloak with the hood down. Underneath that was what looked like a 'smart' reporter's outfit.

The man opposite her was wearing what could be considered lax business casual. That being an untucked, collared button-up shirt and jeans that looked almost brand new. He looked to be of Caucasian descent with brown, shaggy yet well-groomed hair. His piercing blue eyes stood out against the generic black and brown eyes that were very common to the base avatars in the game. He wore glasses, but nothing that seemed odd or obtrusive, they seemed to match the personality of the wearer. After being on screen long enough, Death started her interview segment.

"With me here today is Steve Gregar, head of Project Siege," she addressed the camera, knowing that her audience was already rapt in attention. "Thank you for joining me today, Steve."

The man nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Thank you for having me on your show, Ms. Death, it's quite an honor," he replied. Ladies in the audience noted that they were admiring the pitch and tone of voice he was using.

"Please, tell us a little about Project Siege," she prompted.

"A while back, I had a dream. That dream was to archive every video game ever created and allow it to be played by a new audience. Despite my apparent age here as you can see, I'm a slight bit older than my avatar would like you to believe. One thing in my childhood that was a constant was video games. Those games impacted my life growing up, for better and for worse. One internet search will net you the negative side of things thanks to the jackasses who blamed video games a few decades ago rather than poor parenting, lack of discipline, and mental health help. The good was how it brought such a large group of people together with one shared hobby: playing together no matter where in the globe they were. You could be a white, middle-class boy in Midwestern suburbia or a black, low-income man in the middle of a crime-ridden intercity neighborhood and become friends regardless because of that shared love. A love that had carried on to this day and thanks to the World Seed, many more people are able to take part in this hobby that was once thought to be for geeks only. I should know, I was one," he joked.

He continued. "Project Siege is a loving fan recreation of the game _Rainbow Six: Siege_ released back in 2016. Of course, that was but a few years ago; but as we all know, technology evolves." Before him, a miniature model appeared between the two of them displaying a very small, close quarters map. One might say that it was slightly claustrophobic in the setup. "The philosophy behind Siege is close quarters, modern combat where two five-man squads face against one another."

In the model, ten characters appeared. Five appeared next to a glowing icon that was used in map application to note a destination. Five others appeared outside the house. Steve continued once more, "One team defends an objective and another attempts to go get it." On that cue, the match started and little pipe-shaped drones started to zip in the building while the other five started to set up defenses. "There is a planning phase where the attacking team can scout with drones and the defending team can set up various types of defenses to keep the enemies out or delay them enough to pick them off." The defending team finished setting up their defenses and started to choose defendable positions. "Once the planning phase is completed the attackers will commence their attack on the objective."

The attackers started to advance on the defenders. The two teams started to attack one another using slow, very tactical combat and positioning. It was at this moment that Death spoke up. "I've noticed that each of these combatants are using very slow combat versus GGO's very quick combat style, what is the reason for that?" she asked.

"Ah," he said in a very knowing tone. It wasn't condescending, but it was one where you could imagine him thinking right before replying, 'when were you going to ask?' "The reason behind this very slow level of combat is that it makes every encounter intense. It makes you think about how to enter every encounter with the enemy. You can't run in guns blazing, you have to probe them and they probe you back."

The teams continued to kill each other until it was a 1v1 match. "I've also noticed that some of the characters are on the opposite team as well, is there any reason as to why they do not use their GGO avatars?"

"There is. As you know, the avatars in GGO are randomized so therefore you can get someone like the Pink Devil who's extremely short and is difficult to hit on character model alone. If anyone remembers Oddjob from _Goldeneye_ , you might know what I'm getting at. Therefore, we have created characters with classes and weapons for users to use as a base. Those who have the same type of weapon personally owned as that character may use that weapon, but note that any buffs that were purchased will be negated or debuffed to ensure game balance while in the game but will resume after leaving."

"And that reason is?"

"We want the game to be fun for everyone, it'd be annoying if someone could just buy overpowered equipment and not have it mesh well with everything else in the game."

"It seems like a very interesting game, Mr. Gregar."

"Please, call me Steve. Mr. Gregar is my father," he laughed.

She seemed to shrug off that reply like she had heard it somewhere before. "But what makes you think that other people will play it in GGO when they have their builds and weapons?"

He leaned forward in interest. "Well, that's because it's different. Unique in the VRMMO sphere right now if I would say. It presents a different challenge in the same game that many people already know and love. First, there were 1v1 deathmatches with the Bullet of Bullets. Then there was the Battle Royale mode of Squad Jam. I think what makes this unique is that a group of us fans created a game mode similar to how Squad Jam was created and are willing to put themselves out there for free to give people more options to play in the game that they love, a game that I also love." He then turned to look at Death, "Plus, over a ten-thousand have already signed up for the alpha across several different countries alone, I think quite a few people are interested, and I hope many of your viewers are too. It's currently a free game mode, so go check it out when it goes live."

LadyDeath seemed honestly surprised. "Well, thank you for joining us. For any of you who are interested in this game mode that is coming soon to GGO, check out the link in the link-dump below." And with that, it ended and the screen went to a sporting event located on another World Seed based game.

Several interested parties looked on to this new game mode. One was a veteran to VRMMO games and his friends, the other was a pink-clad girl and her very burly friend. One thing was for certain, there were now some fairly high profile persons in the VRMMO community that was looking on to this game mode with interested eyes.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **Well, that's all I really have for this one. Admittedly, I wrote this one while drinking. Ok, admittedly, the original idea came up after watching the first episode of GGO Alternative and I loved it. The idea itself was that if one guy could create basically PUBG, why couldn't another be created in the same game?**

 **What do I want to happen to this? I have no clue. I just think it's an interesting idea to throw out there for people to build off of if they want to use it for their stories that take place inside of SAO/GGO. I guess this was just one of those interesting ideas that popped into my mind. All I have to say is to do with it what you wish.**

 **This is more of an announcement for those who follow me next. I'm in the process of moving. I appreciate your patience while I change domicile locations. If I don't update for a fair amount of time in any of my content, this is the reason. I do have a plan for what I want to get done once I move and I'll proceed with this as soon as I can. Again, I appreciate your patience since I can crank these type of content pretty fast as they're just ideas I don't have to plan for**

 **Until next time!**


	39. A HP x X-Men (Accelerator) pilot

**So, I was doing some thinking after reading a story that popped up out of nowhere that I never expected to read. That story was "Acceleration" by The-Chibi-Poe (** id: 10473120 **) which is a Worm/RailDex crossover which I found to be both interesting and great. I highly recommend it and it's been completed so go check it out after this.**

 **I can hear you asking me to get to the point, so I'll do so. In that story, Taylor basically becomes Accelerator from the RailDex series. To those not in the know, Accelerator is a borderline invincible character who is only defeated by his own hubris and a fluke by a certain character (see what I did there?) and later on by prioritizing someone else rather than his own wellbeing. But other than that, nothing could touch him and he is a total sociopath and I love it as his interactions with the rest of the RailDex cast is interesting, especially after the Sisters Arc.**

 **Roundabout here. So, what I was thinking was: what if Harry Potter in an alternate universe had the same powers as Accelerator but in another universe to serve as the "host" as it were. Now, the two I was debating between Marvel and DC. If I were to pull this off in the Marvel universe, it would have to be in the X-Men series in the Evolution alternate universe, the movie alternate timeline, or the original 90's cartoon timeline. All three have their merits as well as challenges posed in each. Evolution is basically the team in high school, the movies are panned, and the original 90's cartoon could be very cheesy at times with period accurate cheese. As for DC, it would have to be either Young Justice or Teen Titans due to the age of the other heroes involved. Same with Marvel, with DC both of these properties based off of the Justice League have their merits and challenges. Teen Titans can have that weird sense of humor while also being serious while Young Justice can be a little more serious at times more than funny in my personal experience.**

 **So, I was thinking of splitting this idea up into two submissions (then again, I can do whatever tf I want, so…) and decided on doing the X-Men pilot first due to a formula being there that can work if done right similar to the stories written by DZ2 or Quatermass with a bit of a different opening due to the recent Fox buyout by Disney. So, don't be surprised if you see a pretty much copy and paste intro from this when I do that second submission. Well, to an extent that is. While I don't think it needs to be said, but this is going to be an AU!HP for those who might be confused by any of the things in this story. So, let's get this show on the road.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my laptop. RailDex (** _ **A Certain Magical Index**_ **,** _ **A Certain Scientific Railgun**_ **, and** _ **A Certain Scientific Accelerator**_ **) belongs to Kazuma Kamachi,** _ **Harry Potter**_ **belongs to JK Rowling, and the entirety of the Marvel universe belongs to Disney. I only own this idea. See the forward for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

XxXxXxX

For as long as Harry could remember, he could see 'the numbers'. For years, he never understood what they meant in the slightest. In primary school, he finally learned about what numbers were and their general meaning, that being that they add up or subtract from each other to get the desired result. Once learning the basics, he was able to finish the entire math textbook he was assigned at the beginning of the year over the weekend. Unsurprisingly, this shocked both his parents and his teacher. Many of the teachers thought that he was cheating. Of course, they discovered this the hard way when they had him retake what was pretty much what would have been the final test of the year. He completed it in record time that completely astonished the teachers. All the while Harry looked bored. He was excited by how fast he could do it at first, but that faded quickly.

They tried to stump him with higher levels of math until six hours had passed and they had started to quiz him on trigonometry and calculus. Mind you, he didn't understand why the numbers were coming out this way, only that he knew the answers. It wouldn't be until years later that he would learn algorithms and mathematical formulas that actually made up these equations. It was that day that the concept of 'knowledge is power' was instilled in his mind.

Years later, he would be shuffled from school to school due to fights and just get expelled for being bored with the assignments that teachers would assign and not doing them, walking out of class to do other things. He found himself more often than not on the rooftop playing handheld console games rather than doing class-related items as at least there was an unseen chance algorithm running that kept him guessing. Sure, he would eventually figure it out, but it at least provided some kind of challenge to him.

His parents kept sending him to different schools until that school sent him home permanently. His two records of tenure, longest and shortest respectively, was six months and two weeks. Then came the boarding schools, the same thing happened. The biggest annoyance the instructors had to put up with was the fact that he outright refused to wear the stuffy uniforms. Don't get him wrong, he liked the whole 'sharp dressed man' aspect, but the uniforms were not fitted and therefore were scratchy, chafing, and tight wastes of cloth. He would wear the uniforms for a whopping one instance for ten minutes before ripping them off to wear what he was comfortable wearing.

This went on for years, much to his annoyance and his parents' worry. That is, until his thirteenth birthday. It had been an average midsummer's day in London. He had been walking down the street when all of a sudden, the correlation between the numbers he had been seeing for years and how to manipulate them had suddenly made sense. Like a switch had been flipped in his mind. He picked up a small pebble and glanced at it. He knew from the numbers he was seeing the mass, current weight, and current velocity of the pebble. He threw it and saw the velocity change. He then got an idea: why not change the velocity to go even faster?

He picked up another pebble and flicked it. In his mind's eye, he changed the velocity from zero, to almost a thousand feet per second. The pebble hit a tree and instead of bouncing harmless off of it, it not only pierced the tree but caused it to shatter into a thousand splintered pieces of kindling. At that moment, he got a wide grin. His life suddenly got more interesting.

From then on he started experimenting with this new power. The first thought that crossed his mind was that if he could affect objects, why couldn't he affect himself in the same manner? So, he started to experiment in that fashion. The first thing he constructed a type of passive barrier on himself that would reflect anything thrown at him by instinct alone. To pull this off he went to batting cages and allowed balls to be pitched at him until he could prevent them from hitting him, following up by reflecting them away and then reflecting them on the exact trajectory with the same or faster speed at which was sent at him.

There was one major flaw with this though, as soon as he instinctually reflected everything, he couldn't turn it off. Meaning, he no longer had any physical human contact with anymore. Not that it bothered him any, he didn't really like people, in general, touching him. After all, since he kept to himself and didn't really interact with anyone. He kept going on like this until one day when everything changed. Well, at least his scenery that is.

It was an average day, just like any other. The cars in the bustling suburb of London were zipping on by, the birds were chirping… and he hated it. So, he canceled out the sound that they were emitting to get a wonderful sound of silence. He didn't have his music with him today, so silence would have to do. He was walking to his house from the small creek that he experimented with his powers at. As he walked back, being that he was muting the outside world out, he couldn't hear any of the cars zipping through the very busy intersection that connected the two parts of town, specifically the more rural side which was more mansions and manors than farmland these days, and the shopping and more 'town-y' side of town where a large portion of shops and restaurants were located as well with housing.

Being a law-abiding citizen, he waited to cross until the signal changed. While Johnny Law couldn't do anything to him now that he could control all vectors of any kind of matter (although mastery was a different matter altogether), but it certainly would be annoying more than anything else. He stepped off of the sidewalk and into the street as the light changed and the crossing light flashed. While in the middle of the intersection he felt something hit him. It wasn't like he got slapped or anything, but nudged slightly; like he was pushed lightly before he sprung back. Turning to see what had invoked his annoyance, and his vectors, he saw a car wreck a good hundred meters away. The wreck itself was nothing significant, but the vehicle, an SUV, was on its hood and all of its glass was shattered. All around Harry was a bunch of shattered glass except for the void that was s his personal bubble of automatic vector deflection. It was then it dawned on him that he had not only stopped an SUV running full speed toward him, but he had also deflected it automatically without thinking about it to a fair distance. The accomplishment made him ecstatic. However, it did not appear that the civilian onlookers did not share his sentiment at the moment. Harry, though, did it care. He just went home with a slight skip in his step.

It didn't take long for his parents to find out about this little escapade. After all, there was someone there recording video of the event as part of their vlog livestream and the clip went viral to the point where it made the regional news headlines of 'teenager throws car', or to that extent. There were even two that directly called him a monster for hurting the kid that was in the car despite the fact that the video directly showed that the SUV would have run him down at full speed that would have left him a bloody smear on the road if it wasn't for his vectors.

The shouting match that erupted when his parents got home was epic in the sense that he completely muted them out to the point where his father threw a pan at him only to have it reflected out the window at high speeds. Don't get him wrong, he tried to justify himself, but why should they believe a problem child that's only caused them nothing but trouble. The only words that he got were that he was a mutant and that he was barred entry from the house ever again. He wasn't even able to say goodbye to his kid sister who was the only one who knew his secret and had kept it one all this time, a miracle for a kid her age. And so, he was kicked out onto the streets with nothing more than the clothes on his back.

He wandered the streets for weeks eating table scraps from restaurants when the people that ordered left. He pickpocketed one rich guy one day because he had a plan, he was going to upstate New York. Apparently, there was an institute run by a mutant named Xavier that took in people like him. Since he had nowhere else to go and had no real direction, that's what he did. He stowed away in an airplane headed towards JFK airport, hiding in the cargo bay using his vectors to keep himself warm and breathing. Once they reached altitude he snuck into the cabin and sat near the middle of the plane and took an empty seat. The flight was boring, given that the flight itself was almost full allowed him to blend into the crowd.

Once they landed he left the airport and decided to do a little sightseeing, after all, he was in a new place and he lived in a small town filled with mostly the upper class. So he made sure to see Times Square and the Chrysler building as they were icons of New York. But there was a new iconic sight to see in NYC, that being the new Stark Tower. Supposedly it ran on a renewable generator created by the man behind Stark Industries, Tony Stark. That's when life changed for the young man once more.

While he was walking away from the newest icon in the city, a burst of energy shot out of the top of the tower. People weren't really shocked, meaning that this kind of thing happened regularly in the city to not warrant outright panicking. But then the beam opened a portal in the sky. He didn't have his vectors moving sound away, so he could hear their murmurs of concern. But when the monsters on what looked like hover skids came out and started firing on the crowds of people gawking at the hole in the sky with energy weapons did they start to freak out and seek shelter.

As for Harry? Well, he got a bit of a malicious grin. After all, when would he have the chance to test out just how powerful he was against live targets who completely intended to kill him? He already saw Tony Stark's Iron Man blasting holes in these… aliens, so why shouldn't he?

He picked up a discarded penny and flung it at an alien, manipulating the vectors so that it traveled twice the speed of sound. It impacted the alien's skull with a squelching sound that was sickly satisfying which sprayed its purple blood all over its comrade. The craft that it was piloting crashed down into the rubble of the street, killing the other occupant upon impact resulting in a satisfying explosion. He saw another one and grabbed a car's door, manipulating it to rip it off of its hinges. He threw at extremely high speeds to slice right through the armor and bodies of several aliens which left the car door buried in the concrete wall of a skyscraper like a knife stuck in a tree stump.

Seeing that these 'superior' aliens were just as vulnerable as your average human and just as squishy, he stomped down and sent chunks of solid concrete at several hundred miles per hour into the sleds the aliens were riding on. The impact either threw them off course and crashed them, or outright caused them to explode. Harry sent whatever he could get his fingers to touch to manipulate their vectors to kill the aliens. Of course, this didn't go unnoticed. It didn't take them long to figure out that their army was dying at an accelerated rate in one area. They started to swarm the singular human standing in the middle of devastated cityscape who was grinning and cackling like a madman.

They started to bombard him with those energy weapons of theirs. This got him excited, after all, this was his first experience with the physics behind energy weapons. Oh, it was glorious. To him, it was like sticking a fork into an electric outlet, except without the whole 'getting electrocuted' part. He allowed the bolt to hover right in front of him while he analyzed it, confusing the alien that had originally shot it. That didn't last for long though as the bolt was sent back from whence it came, throwing the alien off of its glider-thing with a larger impact than what was originally shot.

Seeing that another of their alien buddies were killed, they all started to fire at him all at once. Something that didn't last long and something that they immediately regretted as each of their energy blasts were sent right back to whoever shot them at much faster speeds than what they were fired at. They started to strafe him, but that didn't help them at all since he had already calculated their trajectory and sent it where they would be when it would be reflected back. It wasn't even hard as they all followed a pattern, one that was created by some sort of hive mind as they all acted the same and didn't act as individuals. So predictable.

The intelligence behind this must have instructed them to stop firing at him, because they started to charge him, leaving the safety of their hover sleds to attack him head-on. A foolish gesture. This bored Harry. At least before with the energy weapons, it had been interesting and exciting, but this was just boring and routine. They tried to pummel him with their fists but ended up in dead, crumpled heaps hundreds of feet away. The most interesting thing that they tried to do was try and stab him with the bayonet blades that were on the bottom of their guns, but they used the same energy source, so the most interesting thing about them was how it worked in keeping that energy attached. The answer was magnetism.

Eventually, these aliens got smart because they stopped charging him outright and just acted to avoid him like the plague. In fact, he had to start provoking them to get them to fight him. Since they stopped trying to kill him, he got bored again. So, he wandered the streets of New York killing every alien he saw. That is until he saw what could only describe as the unholy marriage of space slug and Giratina from Pokémon. It came flying down towards a specific intersection. It dove towards the intersection. Unexpectedly, it came to a grinding halt at a single point and flipped over. This interested Harry, so he started to walk towards where the creature had landed.

It didn't take him long to reach it, adjusting the vectors for the friction and force he produced while walking made a simple stroll to look like he was running at full speed like an Olympic sprinter. When he arrived, he saw the most colorful cast of characters he'd ever seen. The most obvious person on the group was a bully, green man that was angry; a while back he could have sworn there were APB's out on this guy. Then there was the man in blue with a white star on it who bore a shield with another star and the color scheme of the USA; this man was the fabled Captain America who had disappeared almost fifty years ago and had recently been seen in various areas of New York and said sightings posted on the internet. There were two other humans, definitely spec-ops based on their attire and they wielded weapons not suitable for an alien invasion. The man had a bow while the catsuited woman had a pistol; nevermind the fact that these enemies had energy weapons. The next one was the most well known 'superhero' despite not having any powers of his own, that being Tony Stark's Iron Man dressed in his red and gold armor. Finally, was the oddest of the bunch, that being a man wearing what some might consider Viking cosplay wielding a hammer.

The aliens didn't really wait as they started to attack the group. A few attacked Harry. The group looked on in horror thinking that a teen was going to be killed by energy blasts only to be baffled that they didn't hit him, but were reflected with deadly accuracy.

"Again?" Harry asked with extreme disinterest. "I thought that you learned that won't work. Such mindless beasts."

"Kid, get out of here!" Captain America shouted.

"But it's so much more… interesting over here."

"Look out!" the one with the bow shouted.

Harry moved to the side to see a pike miss his head. He grabbed it one-handedly and pulled the wielder forward and grabbed the alien by the skull. Much to the team's surprise, Harry was able to lift it up with a single hand, unaware that he was using his vectors to manipulate the gravity surrounding the alien. Harry cocked his head to the side. "You'd think they'd learn by now," he lamented, more out of annoyance primarily because they were being predictable again. He plunged his hand into the alien's chest so that the fingertips pierced through the armor and dug into the skin enough to draw blood, kind of like a tiger's paw. He then got an idea, an awful, wonderful idea. He smirked and stated, "You know, I wonder what would happen if I reversed the blood flow in its body suddenly." Harry manipulated his vectors and caused the blood flow to immediately reverse as soon as the heart beat next. The face of the alien bulged up like some sickly created meat-sack balloon before exploding in a shower of purple gore. "So that's what happens," Harry simply stated before tossing the alien corpse aside.

To say that they were shocked was an understatement. They even dismissed the fact that he didn't even have a drop of blood on him despite them now knowing that he had redirected all viscera away with vectors. He turned to look at the colorful group of people no more than a stone's throw away and all but two of them looked slightly unnerved. That being the jolly green giant and the guy with a hammer.

Of course, the aliens, being the apparent showmen that they were, decided to choose that moment to start emerging from the portal in the sky and started to swarm the group. And since Harry was in the crossfire, they started to swarm him too. Seeing the massive swarm of aliens riding alien skids or sleds he grinned. Well, they were attacking humanity, and he was human too, why shouldn't he join in on the fun in killing the aliens?

Harry stomped into the ground and a shockwave formed around him as concrete chunks rose up out of the ground. Not waiting, he sent them towards the aliens, impaling them where they stood with the cement spears, killing them instantly. And they decided to send more of those giant beasts. Well, those looked like fun to kill. Seeing that the kid wasn't in any danger, Stark decided to carry on.

"Call it Captain," Stark said.

Captain America turned to look at the giant portal (sans the now falling aliens Harry killed) and the aliens coming through it. "Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything that gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or turn it to ash."

Barton looked at Stark and asked, "Can you give me a lift?"

"Right," Stark replied. "Better clench up, Legolas." Stark took off with the archer to a nearby rooftop, then flew off to do his assigned duty.

"Thor," he addressed the Nord. "I want you to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light those bastards up." The Nord twirled his hammer around until he threw it while holding it, flying away. He turned to look at the woman. "You and me, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here. And Hulk?" The once timid sounding man turned to look at him, "Smash." The beast of a man smiled and leaped off the ground, grabbing an alien before launching him into another. No matter what the aliens did to him, it seemed like it didn't slow him down in the slightest. The Captain turned to see that Harry was standing there. "And kid? See if you can get out of here, this is no place for you."

Harry turned to see the portal emitter. Well, that had a bunch of math flying around it and it was interesting. He turned to the superhuman and gave him a two-fingered salute, not to be confused with the bowman's salute, and manipulated his vectors to jump into the air to land on one of the passing sleds. No, you know what? Let's call them speeders. He killed the gunner in the back by punching him so hard, well using the vectors to amplify the force of the punch to liquefy the alien where he stood; all that was left were his feet. He casually walked over to the pilot and manipulated his muscles to pilot the speeder in lieu of actually piloting it.

It didn't take him long to get the alien to pilot the speeder to Stark Tower. He pulled up near the machine, and then promptly killed the alien where it stood as thanks for ferrying him there. Before it fell, he made sure to file away the math involved with the anti-gravity generators that were on the speeder because there was no way that these were flying with normal lift forces. As he stepped off and watched the speeder tip over and fall to the ground, he noted that there was a man laying on the ground near what looked to be a generator of some kind.

As he approached he saw that there was math flying all around the cube in a sphere, but it was different to what was in the sky. Therefore, it was something different. He placed his hand on the surface and his vectors immediately pushed back against him. Slowly, he started to manipulate it once more, poking and prodding at it to get it to open up. It was interesting. It was an equation that he had never encountered before. He stripped away all of the 'complex' 'coding' so that it was at its base elements of basic math. He rearranged his vectors to pry it open. It was slow work. When he thought he had solved it, the machine itself decided to throw a loop and reset everything. But there was a pattern, and he was getting it down.

By the time he had gotten it a hand's worth of space open continually for a good few seconds, he reached in and touched the cube that the adults were talking so much about. He was microns away from actually touching it, but he felt the absolute power radiating off of it. Equations upon equations running in his head, all in different sequences than he had ever seen before. But there was one thing that was being brought to the forefront of his mind, and that was the Einstein-Rosenberg Bridge, a theoretical construct that could create rips in space-time to allow one to travel an almost infinite distance away from the starting point. But just as soon as he filed away that information, he was jostled from his thoughts as someone yelled 'kid' at him.

He instinctively turned to see the redheaded woman from before, but before he could stop himself, his mind wandered for a split second; said split second was all it took literally repelled away from both the machine and the cube and into Stark Tower itself. The next thing he knew, it was all blackness. And for once, it was nice not to think anything.

XxXxXxX

In the aftermath of the destruction that happened in New York, there were many questions being asked. One of the largest ones by the civilian population was that humanity wasn't alone in the universe. The one that was on the minds of the Avengers was who the kid was.

"So, any thoughts?" Stark asked as they gathered around a table in the tower. Thor had long since bound his brother who was in no fighting mood at the moment from being smashed relentlessly by Hulk.

"He seems to be some kind of mutant or something," Clint offered. "Freaky powers and all that." He got a look from both Banner and Thor. "But you guys are cool."

"I agree with the archer's assessment," Thor added. "He is most unusual. He was able to touch the Cube with no ill effects."

"Which is impossible," Steve chimed in. "I've seen what happens when a human touches that thing."

"That's because he didn't touch it," Tony interrupted that line of thinking.

"And how do you know that?"

Tony slapped down a tablet which showed the entirety of the scene from before. "While Loki was able to keep JARVIS from doing anything to stop him, he was still able to observe. According to different angles of vision, and JARVIS's processing power, I was able to determine he was mere microns from actually touching it."

"Exactly, 0.001 microns, sir," JARVIS chimed in to interrupt his creator.

"At that point, we're literally splitting hairs, close enough," Tony snapped. Regaining his composure he continued, "He was muttering under his breath as he was. JARVIS has taken the liberty of mapping his mouth movements to map exactly what he said, and it's strange. Here's a transcript."

On the screen, a mathematical formula appeared. It was beyond complex, and it wasn't even organized as one might see on a professor's chalkboard. It was a single string of numbers and letters with no real, concrete context. Bruce put on his glasses and looked at the string. "This looks like a formula for faster than light travel," he commented.

"How would that even be possible?" Steve commented. "Didn't Einstein say something akin to that the speed of light is the fastest anyone can go?"

"It's more like a guideline," Thor replied. "The Bifrost allows quick travel between the Realms, Realms which are many lifetimes away at that speed."

"As interesting as this is," Tony interrupted. While he was fascinated by the Bifrost, there were other things to take care of at the moment, "what do we do about the kid?"

"I believe I can help you out with that," a posh British voice interrupted them.

XxXxXxX

It was a long time before Harry woke up again. But for him, one moment he was looking at a cube, the next he was waking up in a fluffy bed, something he definitely didn't expect. He sat up and looked out the window and saw that instead of a cityscape, which he was in before, he was now in the middle of nowhere with trees around the premises.

"It was about time you woke up, you've had quite the trip," a very British voice like his own greeted him. His eyes snapped from the window he was looking through to a paraplegic man who looked way too young to be bald, at least not through shaving one's head. He sort of looked like Sir Patrick Stewart, now that he thought about it.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Who are you? Where am I?" he demanded.

"My name is Charles Xavier and you are on my property, a school for extraordinary pupils such as yourself: Mutants," he explained. "As for your actual, physical location, we are in upstate New York. Not that far away from where you encountered those strange, alien-like beings."

"They were definitely aliens," Harry confirmed. "Too uniform, their species is like that not unlike humans." He caught himself as he rattled off random information on the spot. "What do you want with me?"

"What do I want?" he parroted. "Nothing."

"I know when I smell BS."

"I don't want you in the sense you think I do. What I want is to offer you a place in my school, a place to learn about your powers and how to control them."

"I already know how to control them," he countered. "I know how to use them."

Xavier raised an eyebrow, "Surely there is nothing else you might wish for? Friends? A safe place to live?" That last part caught Harry's eye. "I hope you don't mind, but I did a very small background check on you. You're homeless, you have nowhere to go." Admittedly, Harry did come here in the first place to find a place with those like him. But this was a school, not a home for him. Xavier must have seen that, because he continued, "If you wish to leave, I will not stop you. I will leave the campus open for your perusal. I would advise talking to my other students and instructors here. Perhaps they can convince you to at least stay here for a time."

And with that Xavier left, leaving many questions with the young Mutant.

 **To be continued...?**

XxXxXxX

 **And with that concludes another pilot. So, that was a bit interesting. Now, you might wonder why the final New York battle from Avengers was here, well, I wanted a bit of excitement here. That, and since Disney pretty much owns the X-Men again, I thought it might be interesting to see if I could do a little of universe merging. I think that might be a little fun.**

 **So, what do I want to do in particular with this story? As you read, Harry is Accelerator from RailDex at least in powers. The only person that's like him is Jean Grey, and she's purely psychokinetic rather than what Accelerator does. And no, that's not a pairing set up. One of the central conflicts will be the whole mutant thing in Marvel as well as the Infinity Stones, something which will build up to Infinity War. The endgame is mega-OPness and this is the interesting journey to get there.**

 **I briefly mentioned pairings before. I have none. There are a few I was thinking of based on his age group. Kitty Pride and Rogue are two that sort of stand out, primarily their X-Men: Evolution variants. Perhaps even Jubilee. It's something that I would have to keep in mind. One thing that this would not become is a harem!fic because that's just not how I see this one working out. If someone wants to try and run with this idea and do that, they can give it a shot, but I won't.**

 **As you guys may have noticed, this came off pretty hot off the heels of my previous entry here, that's because I had been sitting on this for a while and finally finished it after some writer's block after figuring out how I wanted to end it. It took a while, but I got it done. That being said, that whole moving thing still applies and most of this was started before that. I do have a few more ideas that I want to try and do, so I have no idea what the next entry will be.**

 **So, what did you guys think? Like it? Hate it? You should know what to do by now.**

 **Until next time!**


	40. A self-insert Monster Musume pilot

**As you guys know, I like to be inspired by other peoples work whether they be real writers with published works that people can go out and buy or writers here on this site. I can honestly say that this work is a hybridization of both. The property that I intend to explore today is** _ **Monster Musume**_ **, or,** _ **Everyday Life with Monster Girls**_ **.**

 **There are two fics that I want to point to in this introduction, both of which aren't crossovers. The first is "Monster Girls in the USA" by Dragon1990 (** id: 12146847 **) and "Daily Life of Those Who Live at Night" by Naienkon (** id: 12642822 **). Now, the reason I reference both of these fics is because both of them take place in the USA under different people as their hosts, OCs or SIs if I were to take a best guess. So, I had this idea: why not make my own and base the "host" on yours truly? I did the same for that** _ **Familiar of Zero**_ **self-insert that you guys sort of liked, I wonder what I can come up with for this, I wonder? So, the "host" character is pretty much going to be me with all my great personality traits of being a bit of an abrasive ass at times. Does that mean that my self-insert is going to be a dick towards the monster girls? Hell no. But with that out of the way, let's get this shindig rolling along.**

 **Rating: T for the pilot, T+ to M for a full story.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Monster Musume**_ **belongs to Okayado. I only own my own personality and OCs that may appear. See the forward for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

Monster, n. An imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening.

Girl, n. A female child. A young or relatively young woman.

Normally, one would think that neither of these two words would mix well together. And normally those people would be right. Well, humanity was wrong. They can and would do it. I should probably start at the beginning for those of you still living under a rock or just don't watch any form of news media.

Around ten years ago half-human creatures approached world governments exposing their existence. There were two major camps to this news. The first were the skeptical ones where they thought it was an elaborate hoax, like Archer's voicemails. There were thousands of videos posted to YouTube meticulously analyzing videos of press conferences of evidence of CGI like one of those analytical videos that do frame by frame analyzations for movie trailers. Then there was the other camp, those that believed that these monsters existed. Now, do not think that meant that all of humanity all of a sudden opened their arms and said that we're open for business. Oh, hell no. There were those, like me, that were of the live and let live group; people that would leave others alone so long as they were left alone themselves. Then there was the other camp who declared the monsters to be an affront to their god(s). You can probably guess which group that was, and no, it wasn't Christianity as a wholesale on that. The Westboro Baptist cult church was at it again being the vocal minority (and that's being nice considering that they're a group of twenty-some crazies) that filled that slot. The rest of the world kind of just ran with it.

Time did pass, as expected world governments did accept the sovereignty of these roaming tribes of monster-people. So long as they didn't cause incidents they could do as they please among themselves but would have to obey the law of the country they resided in. More time passed and an interesting proposal was presented to the world governments, a proposal that Japan immediately accepted. The proposal was to allow members, primarily younger ones, to spend time with a family or host to experience human culture firsthand. Japan was, surprisingly, one of the first countries to jump at this proposal. No one quite knew why, and to some world governments, that both piqued their interest and their worry (some worrying more than others). About five years ago that same proposal was put into action with the Interspecies Cultural Exchange Act. The world watched on as Japan took the forefront of one of the largest cultural programs to ever exist in recent years. No one knew whether this was going to be for the better or for worse.

A year passed, and since no monster clans were baying for the blood of humans and declaring war on humanity wholesale, it was safe to say that the ICEA was a roaring success. World governments were sending representatives left and right to different monster clans to 'sell' them on why their country was the best. Full disclosure? America is the best, hands down. Fight me. Ok, so you caught me. I'm a red-blooded American. I love my country, I can guess that you probably love yours too. And so, one year after the ICEA went live in Japan, the US and several other countries got their opportunity to be a homestay family for monster-people, or as many in the Western world called them, demis.

I, like many other Americans, both those single and families alike, applied for Homestay Status. Basically, it would allow a demi to stay with me and the US government would allow a certain amount of money allocated towards monthly expenses related to said demi homestay paid from a general fund partially paid for by the families of the homestays. This would mean, of course, that said homestay parents were quite loaded. Don't give me that look, I'm only stating the obvious. You can only afford to do something like this if you're wealthy. I've got personal experience on this… ok, second-hand experience. My dad used to be a high school guidance counselor and he'd have to have discussions with Chinese exchange students, not cheap in the slightest as they were paying up front. Ok, tangent aside, I also applied. But that was four years ago, and at the time I had been on the tail end of college, but now I was out.

Currently, I just got home from work. It's not a glamorous job, but it pays the bills and to be honest? I like it. It's the first job that I've actually enjoyed in years. You see, previously I've worked a lot of retail jobs and warehouse jobs, all of which I've pretty much hated for one reason or another whether it be for the pay I got or because I just had terrible coworkers that made each day a chore. But this job? It's perfect for me. I should at least mention what this job is so that you have a bit of context. I work in a call center supporting stores. Don't get that confused with helping customers, that's what the stores are for, I help out the guys and gals that run the stores; franchise and corporate-owned alike. What do I do? I take calls, help people out with their computers or our proprietary property, and then proceed to get paid. It's a pretty sweet gig.

Today was one of the rougher days I've been through. We had three outages affecting three separate systems all within an hour of each other. For those of you that aren't tech savvy, an outage pertains to a loss of service in any way, shape, or form that can affect business. Power outage, internet going out, the store is unable to access the internal websites? It all is considered an outage that can affect business. Bad weather or something similar to what's going in Hawaii? That's just a closure. I mean, we don't want our employees to be risking their lives or anything when they don't have to be. That would be just cruel.

Right now, I'm in my apartment. It's nothing really too big nor anything really to brag about. It's a 'sizable' place with a full bedroom, a sitting/living room, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. It's not much, but it's mine… for a monthly fee. Rent sucks, adulting sucks, but at least I have a job I like and it pays well. So, I'm not complaining all that much about it in that regard. In said apartment though, I'm in front of my computer, a product of my own creation. Ok, by my own creation I mean 'I purchased the parts on the internet and built it'. But I still put it together so bite me. Currently, I've got _Far Cry 5_ loaded up. It's a fun game, but parts of the story could have been better with a not-so-silent protagonist like Ajay from _Far Cry 4_ or even Jason from _Far Cry 3_. The villains are interesting, but not as much as either Pagan Min or Vaas, but that's just a personal opinion.

The current mission I'm on is a side mission in Jacob's region, the culler guy. I see the mission complete music and icon flash on the screen along with the name of the mission that I just completed. The 'resistance' point meter goes up and it goes right over the level marking for this region. And with this I let out a sigh, not out of relief that I'm one step closer to completing this game; no, it's because I'm going to be ambushed by Jacob's Hunters that will find me no matter where I go outside of a controlled Outpost in the region forcing me to play the story mission instead of allowing me to do it when I please like back in previous Far Cry games.

There was a knock at my door. I press the Xbox gem button (that's what it's officially called, believe it or not) to pause the game rather than actually pausing it as music would play and while normally that would be fine, I had an inkling of an idea that this may not be appropriate for music in the background. I approached my door and slowly reached behind my back where my Walther PPQ pistol sat in its holster. And yes, I do have my CCL. I look through the peephole in the door to see a woman dressed in a suit of all things. Don't give me that, you know what I mean. I'm talking full suit, giving that G-Man vibe if you get me. Now, don't get me wrong, I may be a red-blooded American, but I'm not stupid either. I see that shoulder holster hiding a piece under that jacket of hers.

I opened the door a crack and asked through it, "Can I help you?"

"I think you can, Mr. Maddock," she replied. "May I come in?"

"Who are you, and what do you want?" I demand. There's no way I'm letting someone in this place that I don't know.

The woman cocked her hip to the side with her hand on it as if she were putting on a slight show. She wasn't an unattractive woman. In fact, I'd say she was quite attractive. Somehow, even with that government issue suit, she still managed to make those curves of hers work in it. She was around five feet six inches tall and had a good hip-waist ratio. Her face was heart shaped and her skin looked soft. All in all, she looked like the prime specimen of female appearance.

"I'm Agent Jane Smith, member of the Bureau of Liminal Affairs, sub-department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," she introduced herself. Something about that introduction felt forced. What I mean is that her first name was definitely Jane, but that last name definitely sounded fake. You know, the same when a girl gives you her number and it's '555' anywhere in it. That number is definitely legit, but it's not the number of the person who gave it to you. "And I'm here today to address your application that you submitted to become a homestay host years ago."

That did ring a bell. Then again I was thinking about it a little while ago anyway, so yeah it would be at the forefront of my mind. This, of course, caused my eyebrow to raise in suspicion. "Ok, so why are you showing up now? It's been four years since I submitted my application," I reply, still skeptical of the time difference from when I applied to now. Hell, I never received a letter saying that I was declined.

This did seem to embarrass her a bit, breaking the illusion of a stone-cold G-Man. "Well, my office screwed up," she admitted.

"Screwed up?" I echoed.

"We… had your application in the submissions office but it was… misplaced."

"Misplaced?"

"It was lost in another's case notes. We had only recently discovered it because the person that the homestay was with was accused of money laundering and neglect and that's where your application was found," she sheepishly admitted.

"So, the only reason you even know about my application is that someone was moronic enough to misplace it, and it was only found because someone broke the law?" I repeated in a deadpan. Somehow during all this, she managed to get inside my domicile, I don't know how exactly.

"We do apologize. But after further review of your person consisting of a background check, credit check, and speaking to several close friends of yours for a personal reference the agency has decided that you have the basic and necessary qualities needed to be a homestay host." She handed over a manila folder that had my name plastered on the tab that would be filed away in some file drawer. "Congratulations." I opened it to see psychological studies done on me based on things I've done online, well that's not creepy at all. There was an entire life history including where I was born, what schools I went to, the jobs I've worked over the years (even the unofficial ones like mowing the lawn for my elderly neighbor who paid me), any traffic violations, and my application and approval of my CCL. Again, not creepy at all.

It was then I saw what looked like a notarized paper consisting of blank lines and a final blank line with my name printed below it. "What is this?" I ask as I set it on my kitchen table.

"A contract and agreement," she explained.

"Contract?"

"Yes, a contract. As you may know, the parents and elders of the clans have certain expectations of the promises that our government promised for the homestays. Of course, we can't plan for every eventuality, but we can at least prevent obvious places where their children may be in danger, that being in the home with their hosts. The notarized document in front of you is a contract that states that the host or their family will not harm the homestay in any way which in includes physical and mental harm. A list of some examples are listed in the contract," she pointed at the document.

I looked at the document. The list was quite expansive. And I'm not kidding on that. I mean, it took up an entire paragraph. Some choice pickings from this list are 'no physically striking the homestay no matter what', 'no courting the homestay and committing sexual acts with the homestay', and 'you may not use funds given for homestay expenses for personal use'. And those were just a choice few. "This is quite… extensive," I comment.

"They are in order to legally cover ourselves, I hope you understand that. Before you sign, and you can still decline, is that if you break any of these then you will be subject to penal consequences in accordance with both the crime type and severity," she said ominously. A dark aura seems to hover about her when she said that.

"Depending on the crime?" I ask for clarification, my gulping not totally obvious.

"Larceny will land you in a local prison whereas sexual assault on a demi will land you in Leavenworth." Well, _**that**_ certainly didn't make things any better. The more that I think about it, the more that I think being a host for a homestay is a _BAD_ idea. I mean, what if one of them come on to me? It wasn't like I initiated it, but the law that was in place wouldn't look at it that way. I'd be fucked and I'd better pray I don't get Bubba as my roommate. "Of course, you are still free to decline. I should say that at least we're a lot more lenient than our contemporaries across the Pacific. Any breach of these terms would mean a federal facility."

I actually felt sorry for those that accidentally broke the law over there. What would be something that I would debate internally for years to come whether it would be a good idea or not. I, without thinking, grabbed the nearest pen and started signing and initialing where my name was listed. Even Agent Smith was shocked at the speed at which I signed.

"Well, that was quick," she commented. She reached over and closed the folder and tucked it under her arm. "I'll take the paperwork and take it back to my office. You will receive a phone call once we have a homestay lined up." She then stood up and walked out of the door. At least she was kind enough to close it behind her. That, of course, left me to my thoughts.

I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

Part of me says I should have never said those words, even mentally. Ever.

 **To be continued…?**

XxXxXxX

 **Yeah, I know that this was a bit on the shorter end of the spectrum of these pilots, but there's a reason for that. First and foremost, I'm in the middle of a move and short things are easiest right now. The second is that I have no idea what kind of monster girls that I would like this character to cohabitate with. I don't want to follow the show maybe except for one species or another, but I also don't want to follow others that have already made their mark here on this site.**

 **So, that means coming up with characters specifically for this story that are of different species of monster girl that show up in the manga or noted in any other medium related to the series, then creating a story surrounding it. Not just that, but that means also creating a story that is of a more slice of life type story, something I'm not the best at. Give me drama, violence, sci-fi, etc. Slice of life isn't really my forte.**

 **Excuses aside, let me know what you thought at least about the initial idea. If you'll excuse me, I have more packing and** _ **Nier: Automata**_ **to go do. See you in whatever I do next.**


	41. A SW x FRANXX pilot

**I've had a few weird ideas in the past, but this probably takes the cake due to what it is based on. So, who here knows about** _ **Darling in the FRANXX**_ **? You know, the anime that's a hypothetical answer to if Studio Trigger made** _ **Eva**_ **. Admittedly, this anime is weird, but I love it.**

 **So, what makes it so weird? Well, I love** _ **Guardians of the Galaxy**_ **, and I think a lot of people do too, especially the character of Starlord. Well, this isn't a crossover between GotG and FRANXX, sorry to disappoint you. Factually, you should have read the header there and you would have found that out almost immediately. Well, it's a** _ **Star Wars**_ **crossover, but not in the same vein.**

 **To elaborate, this is a FRANXX/SW crossover with a** _ **Guardians of the Galaxy**_ **inspired scene; particularly that of the first initial scene and Starlord. To set the setting, in FRANXX this will take place during the episode where they all go to the beach and see a settlement that's been long since abandoned; in Star Wars this will take place long after Return of the Jedi so I don't have to worry about crossing canons, but as many may know I do have a preference for Legends rather than current Disney canon post-ROTJ.**

 **That being said, let's get this show on the road!**

 **Title: Treasure Hunt**

 **Rating: T**

 **Summary: An encounter with a "foreign" treasure hunter during their short vacation brings up some interesting questions for Squad 13. Questions of the existential kind.**

 **NOTE: Please note that this idea was started long before episodes 20 and 21 came out for our enjoyment and subsequent confusion at how they went from 0-100 in less than one scene.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my laptop.** _ **Star Wars**_ **belongs to Disney,** _ **Darling in the FRANXX**_ **belongs to Studio Trigger and A-1 Pictures. See the full foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

On a little blue marble in the middle of a long-forgotten system in the galaxy, a vessel shaped similarly to a bird of prey flew towards it. If one were able to listen in the vacuum of space, it would sound like said vessel sounded like an old muscle car. The craft quickly zipped through the atmosphere, leaving no atmospheric trail behind. The vessel's entry flew past the stationary orbiting space station currently sitting in high orbit. In fact, it was at the perfect orbit for a space elevator, something that it had.

Ignoring the impressive, primitive, architecture the vessel flew down towards the planet's surface-skimming past the cloud layer. It followed its guidance system which took it to the side of the planet that was currently shrouded in darkness. Night. The moon was large this night. Such a scene on many an inhabited world would be cause for romantic rendezvous for lovers. The pilot looked down at the dying planet and was unimpressed. This wouldn't be the first world that he came across where the civilization was dead before it could leave its cradle.

Down on the surface below on a small beach somehow spared the desertification and perilous waters that made up a majority of the planet. A small gaggle of teenagers on the cusp of adulthood celebrated their most recent victory against a foe much larger and more powerful than them. They had just finished having a cookout provided by their caretakers after exploring a small remnant of the Old World. A remnant who was both similar and different from them. It was eerie just how similar to each other they were. Their celebration was starting to wind down to the point at which they were all looking at the stars, wondering all about that. You know, if there's life out there or if we're the only things alive in the universe on this dying ball of dirt.

"You ever wonder what's up there?" Zero Two asked.

"Like what?" Hiro asked in return.

"Maybe someone up there is wondering what it's like here."

"I guess… do you think we'll ever meet them?" Hiro asked again, looking at the girl that called him 'Darling' on a regular basis.

"I hope so, don't you?" she looked at her 'Darling' in return with a smile.

There was a rumbling in the distance but the children on the beach wrote it off as a transport headed towards the Plantation. But there was something… different about it. The engine sounded off. It was less of a high-pitched whine, but more of a guttural growl. Actually, it seems to be getting closer. This piqued the interest of all the children and they started to sit up and turn towards where that guttural growl was coming from. They stood up and turned around, almost in unison, and were immediately fell on their backs as something passed extremely fast overhead, that guttural roaring intense as it passed over. Well, it wasn't that loud, but in comparison to the very quiet night, it was loud. It flew over the village that they visited earlier in the day and turned around, only to hover over it for a few short moments before landing.

The children looked at each other as the whine of engines started to wind down in the distance.

"What was that?" Kokoro asked.

"That was definitely not an APE aircraft," Ichigo remarked.

"What makes you say that?" Futoshi asked with a slight head tilt.

"APE transports are much slower and much bulkier. That was extremely fast and slim," Ichigo pointed out.

"Agreed," Zero Two chimed in, "that was definitely not one of ours."

"So, if it wasn't ours, whose is it?" Zorome asked the now silent crowd of children.

"We go check it out!" Zero Two said with gusto, grabbing Hiro's arm. She dragged him along towards the path that led towards the village.

"Wait up!" Ichigo shouted in return, both out of annoyance as well as jealousy that her crush was taken by the newbie.

While the children were rushing back to the village, the adults in charge of them were starting to get worried. All of their surveillance equipment started having noticeable loops in their feed. Their equipment was top of the line quality granted to them via both Doctor Franxx as well as Papa to monitor Zero Two's progress as well as the enigma that was Hiro, in terms of biology that was. For all intents and purposes, he should be very, very dead right now if Code 02's records were anything to go by with her previous partners. Papa and the APE council were very interested in his progress and condition. They said that it would have an impact on future Parasite development if proven useful.

While the adults were freaking the fresh hell out, there was something going on in the vessel itself. The circular doors open letting lose a hissing noise as the outside air and the pressurized cabin equalized their pressure to each other. The pilot steps out landing several feet below the hovering craft with the gracefulness of a feline without bending down into the 'superhero landing' pose. The skeletal-looking mask gave him the look of a red, glowing-eyed skull with a rebreather over the mouth. He straightened out his leather trenchcoat made from some animal on some far away world and started to walk towards the village he had scanned.

There was a mist slowly rolling in from the sea that was slowly coating the little village in an eerie white, translucent sheet. There was a buzzing hum as something floated behind his head. It moved towards his shoulder and perched itself on it like some kind of trained raptor. He pulled out a boxy device and turned it on with a button press. It sputtered and sparked and in return, he slapped the side of it. It finally started to work and projected a hologram which started to map the surrounding buildings. As it did, it seemed to calculate where once standing structures stood with people, humans, walking the streets. Eventually, the road he was standing on lit up red and he started to follow it. The silent streets filled with the hum of a holographic projector and the sound of boots on the street.

Meanwhile, the children had entered the now dark, foggy, deserted village. It was much creepier now than earlier during the day. Every little sound echoed a hundred-fold making even the sound of a nail hitting the concrete feel like a tree being felled in volume. As they walked further into the village they noticed that they weren't alone. They heard the sound of boots hitting the asphalt in a slow walk. In fact, it was moving towards them.

"Quick, hide!" Ichigo commanded. The children searched for open storefronts and alleyways to hide in. They scampered into them and flattened themselves against the walls just in time to hear boot footfalls. They were slow and loud in the silent village.

The footfalls approached them and stopped. They heard a humming and saw what looked like ghosts wandering the streets, buying merchandise, and so on. What they found that was interesting from these 'ghosts' was that there were children next to adults and even adults holding children fondly. There appeared to be some kind of square beam as it swept in another direction the ghosts disappeared and returned when the beam came back.

The only silent thought that went through their minds was, 'What _is_ that?'

The footfalls started again and continued towards them. It didn't take long until the figure passed them. The figure was definitely male and an adult based on the build and was wearing something odd in comparison to what they've seen adults wear. It was a long coat, longer than anything that looked feasible. If Zorome was correct, it looked like a trenchcoat from out of the images from Old World fashion. The only reason he remembered it was because it looked 'cool'.

As for the rest of the attire, it looked fairly normal. Shirt (but it no collar or tie), pants (but they were long and had many pockets and objects hanging off the hips), and boots. There wasn't anything abnormal about the boots. The two most bizarre things that the male had on him were the following. The first was a mask, a mask that looked like it had a rebreather as well as glowing red eyes. The second was some kind of spindly-legged, circular, floating construct with a single eye perched on his shoulder like some kind of parrot that would have once been seen in pictures of a pirate captain. He did seem to notice them as he continued to walk past them. They noticed that he was following the red dotted line towards a fallen building. Once he was a few dozen meters ahead of them, they started to follow; his footfalls drowning out the pitter-patter of their sandaled feet.

He stopped outside a long-destroyed shrine and watched as it glowed red. He turned off the device and placed it back in one of the pockets on his person and continued to walk towards the building in the center. The children continued to follow him and his in the shadows of discarded ground cars and parts of a destroyed building. He lifted a hand and the construct on his shoulder lefts its perch and hovered in front of the double doors. It extended a metallic probe and stuck it in the door lock. There was the sound of tumblers knocking around until the door swung inward slowly. The construct set itself back on top of the figure's shoulders awaiting its master's next command.

The man then reached up to where his ear would be and touched something. Slowly the helmet that he had been wearing shrunk back until it stopped at what looked like an earpiece on his right ear. The man underneath the helmet had sharp features. Angled chin, high cheekbones, blue-green eyes, slightly tanned skin, and short-cropped brown hair. He seemed to be chewing on something and blew a pink bubble before it popped. He pulled out a metal band which had fluffy orange things on the inside and it was connected with a cord to some type of boxy device on his belt. He placed the band on his head so that the orange muffs covered his ears. He then reached down to his belt and pressed something, something that made an audible click. Then he started moving in the oddest of fashions. It was rhythmic in the way he moved. If one was observant enough they would have heard the music.

Meanwhile, the man was lost in his little world. Slowly dancing over the floor of the once used temple's hidden chamber. A large mutated rat tried to jump out at him, but he grabbed it and started to use it as a microphone for his lip-syncing as he walked along the stone floor. He tossed it aside and used a slick of water to slide towards a crevasse in the floor a few meters wide. He saw a roughhewn bridge connecting the two-part, but he was in a hurry. He pressed a button on his gauntlet and rockets initiated from his boots and he flew over the gap, cutting the power as he crossed over. He hurriedly made his way to the top of the stairs to the beat of the music he was listening to until he reached another locked door.

He pulled out a small device and started to rotate it in the lock at the door. After much fiddling with it, it started to unlock in a very elaborate fashion. As the doors opened, dirt and dust falling off of it showing the age since it was last done, he pulled out an orb from the bag around him and shook it, the light emanating from within blinding those looking right at it. He walked right inside and stood in front of some kind of metallic pillar with a large gap between the top and bottom portions, which would more make it like a stand, but the gap had a kind of shield emanating around it, one inside and one at the edge. In the inner shield was a box that looked way too ornate and otherworldly. Even the Klaxosaurs looked more otherworldly than the box.

The man took off the band and let it settle along his neck. He looked to the construct and said in plain English, "Ideas?"

The construct hopped off his shoulder and floated around the pillar-stand, a beam of light coalescing over it, scanning it. It looked back to him and warbled in the negative. The children eavesdropping on him might not have understood the chirp-warble, but the tone suggested negative.

"No access ports, huh?" he asked, the construct warbled in the negative again. "Options?" It chirped and warbled several suggestions off. "Will any of them set off any security systems?" The construct chirped in the affirmative. "When you say it like that it's almost like you want me to die," he commented. He walked closer and examined it. He pulled a discarded metal rod and pushed it into the shield, it sizzled and sparked to the point where the end was now slag. "So, we have a disintegration-ray shield." He looked to the construct again, "Any way we can get it out without destroying it?" The construct warbled in the negative. He looked at the box again. "Well, it really looks like someone didn't want anyone getting their hands on this," he commented.

He pulled out two three-pronged devices and threw them at the doorway which stuck to the frame as if they were magnetic because they were. He drew a long-barreled pistol and pointed it at the base of the pillar. "Well, here goes nothing," he muttered right before pulling the trigger. There was a loud gunshot, but it was different from anything that any of the children had heard before. It was a sharp crack followed by a throbbing, electronic bass. And the latter made sense when they saw it for. It didn't fire a bullet comprising of Magma energy, but a dark red bolt of pure energy. It buried itself in the pedestal and the shield buckled. He fired several more times until both shields fluctuated and failed. He reached inside and pulled the floating cube out of the pedestal, to which the doors shook and started to close. He tapped a button on his gauntlet and the three-pronged jacks opened and emitted a strange field which caused the doors to stop where they were.

From the formerly patterned ceiling, double-barreled turrets lowered from all four corners of the room. They leveled on the man. Without thinking he fired on two of the turrets, turning the targeting systems to slag, said turrets deactivated and the barrels pointed towards the floor. The other two opened up on the man, seeing the red bolts coming towards him he rolled through the barely holding doors and tapped the button on his gauntlet. The jacks deactivated and the doors closed with a thudding slam. He stood up not noticing the children and brushed himself off from the dust he accumulated from his roll.

He placed the heavy pistol in the holster on his hip. Being as close as they were, the children could see it in its entirety. It was an older looking gun not dissimilar from old, heavy caliber revolvers. But there was something unique about this one, it looked as though the cylinder was replaced with something else, something that didn't hold bullets. It was black and octagonal and had markings that looked like some kind of warning. He held the cube that was on the pedestal and tossed it up like one would do to a ball and caught it, examined it closely with a critical eye before putting it in a pocket.

The children froze in fear as he started to turn towards them, but luck was on their side as a door opened to the side, the attention of the armed man pointing that way. His head cocked to the side in curiosity and walked towards the door. As he walked closer he shone the light from the light source he had into the door's chamber. It was small, maybe big enough for four or five people to fit inside with relatively comfortable amounts of room for personal space. More if you squeezed them in. He, for whatever reason, walked inside of the chamber, to which the door slid close with frightening speed. All the children could really do was look at the now empty room which was once occupied by the mysterious man.

"So… now what?" Kokoro asked.

Zorome's smile widened as he got an idea. "I know, follow me!" he shouted as he left the ancient site and headed towards the doors that brought them there in the first place. The rest of the children looked to each other for but a moment, before joining their comrade.

The children ran through the streets towards where the mysterious man came from. The most had slowly disappeared over the time they were inside the ancient temple. All that was left of the fog was a small amount of mist on the streets. At the end of where one of the streets ended in a sudden cliff, add if it was shorn off, the crumbled remains of a concrete foundation seemed to support that theory. At the end of the cliff was a floating craft. Floating as in midair, not on the water. There was a circular portal in the frame where there appeared to be a closed door into the craft.

"Ok, now what?" Miku asked, clearly annoyed by all this running around. "We found that man's aircraft but it's all closed up."

"Well, the door has to open somehow for him to get inside," Zorome matter-of-factly stated, a cocky smile on his face.

"Where, there aren't any buttons?" Miku asked, clearly annoyed.

"Well, he has to get inside somehow, right?" he asked as he started to pick at the opening, trying to search for some kind of purchase on the airtight door.

After a full two minutes of Zorome banging against the door, he turned around dejected at his attempts. "Now that that's over," Ichigo started, "we should head back. We have no idea who this guy is and what he wants."

Hiro walked forward and stood by Ichigo's side. "I agree," he said. "We should just head back."

"But where's your sense of adventure?" Zorome prodded. Before Hiro could reply, the door behind them hissed open. In the center of the circular door, it split open in two long rectangles leaving the other two parts as semi-circles. The entire frame rotated ninety degrees before opening revealing the insides of the craft. "See? I told you it would open," he said before jumping the gap and heading inside.

"Wait!" Ichigo called out and was ignored as Zero Two and Hiro went inside. More like Zero Two dragged Hiro inside. The rest of the children followed and she went as well.

Inside was a veritable 'other world'. There were things that were familiar such as books, couches, electronics, and so on. But they were so much different than they had ever seen before. It was definitely a boy's room, it was messy as one's. Before they could speculate further, the door suddenly shut. It was then the children realized their mistake and went from curious children adventuring into the unknown, to stowaways.

Meanwhile, with the mysterious man. He looked down at his gauntlet and his finger depressing a button that said 'remote unlock: door sealed'. He removed his finger and settled down again from what had just happened. The turbolift that was in this place was _OLD_. Really old. Old Republic, pre-Rusaan Reformation old. The now worn out emergency brakes had failed and the car had slammed into the pit below him. Luckily for him, he had rocket boots and a heavy blaster to shoot off the emergency hatch and jet out before an untimely demise.

He was currently 'standing' in front of the turbolift door attempting to force it open to little avail. He pulled his blaster out yet again and shot several holes in the long-buried metal. Molten punctures showed where the bolt had cleanly cut through the older metal. One of the bolts must have hit the locking mechanism, as it became much easier to move. He pulled it open and hopped inside before the fuel cells his boots were equipped with burned out. He stood on the deck of a warship. How could he tell? The solidness of the deck meant to withstand many blows without compromising the rest of the structure. Although that didn't really explain the shoddiness of the turbolift door though.

He walked down a hallway, each of his steps echoed as he moved forward. The further that he got in, the more chills ran down his spine. There was something that just wasn't right about this place. As he kept walking towards an open door, the air felt like it was getting colder and colder the closer to the door he walked. When he walked through the door, the room felt like a freezer. Said room though was a three-story expanse where a single crystal sat from floor to ceiling. Against his better judgement, he marched forward towards the monolithic crystal.

He walked to the base of it and tried to see where the top of it was. The lighting was so terrible that he couldn't tell. As he looked at it, he could feel this… buzzing in the back of his mind. There was something about it that was just… alluring. He couldn't look away. It wasn't until he heard the erratic beeping of B0B1, otherwise known as Bob, that he turned away.

"What?" he asked. Bob beeped and blatted at him, mechanical arm-probes waving erratically. "What do you mean 'an hour'?" he asked with confusion. He turned to look at Bob and then the spire. "So, you're telling me that I was staring at that for almost a half-hour?" There as a beep in the affirmative. "What the hell?" he asked. There was a long and loud beep, but it wasn't one that Bob made. The man whipped around with his blaster drawn to see what looked like a console, but this console had a data stick sticking out of it.

He approached carefully and took it in one hand. It was old, really old. Well, it looked brand new from a materials perspective; but from a design perspective, it looked like old Old Republic tech. Before the Ruusan Reformation old if not older. From what the history volumes told, that era had a mass regression in tech to a point of almost Stone Age levels of warfare, tactics, and technology. It took centuries to rebuild the basic infrastructure that the galaxy depended on for communications and commerce. A few more and the galaxy was almost at the point at which it was before the Sith Brotherhood and the Jedi Lords of Light decided to battle each other to extinction.

This could be worth a lot of money. But the data could be worth even more. Who knows what kind of juicy, delicious information was on this data drive? It could put him on the map as the first person in almost a thousand years to discover long lost data from that era. He placed the data stick into the internal pocket on his trenchcoat.

As soon as it slipped into his pocket the temperature of the room seemed to change. That being the once unnaturally cold feeling room became more like a dank basement that had been left alone for years. There was something going on, and he didn't like it. Therefore, his decision to leg it out of there on the double was understandable and rational. It didn't take him long to retrace his steps and leave the odd chamber. The most difficult part, if it could even be called that, was managing the power cell on his jet boots so it never reached the 'danger zone', or that which the power cell couldn't recharge itself. The door that sealed off the turbolift seemed to be much sturdier as it took several shots in succession in the exact same place to burn a hole through enough of the durasteel or whatever metal was used as akin to a vault.

When he reached the surface again, that being outside of the odd temple, something felt off. He looked around and felt that the town that had long since been abandoned felt, less silent than normal. There sounded like there was scuffling of boots against the pavement. Not just any boots, combat boots. He drew his heavy blaster pistol and held it at his side and slowly moved forward towards the cover of the building across the street. Bob extended a probe and reached around the corner; he opened the link on his gauntlet and it showed several black-clad enemies wielding rifles that had orange glowing canisters. If the man was to guess, he'd say that was the power cell or primary source of ammunition.

The soldier (or thug) turned around and started to walk towards the corner in which he was currently hiding behind. He waited patiently for the armed man to round the corner. When he did, the man gave out a sharp, low whistle. The armed man turned around with his rifle raised, but it was too late. The man closed the distance and landed a solid punch right in the armed man's face, causing him to go down. He didn't know if the gunman had nearby friends, so he pulled the limp and unconscious gunman behind the corner and set up against a wall.

"Zap him," he instructed Bob, the droid obliged and pumped the gunman with enough juice to take down a Wookie. He then noticed the gun laying on the ground. He pointed to it, "Scan it, send all data back to the ship." Once again Bob obliged and scanned the foreign weapon. Once he was sure Bob was done, he moved towards the next building for cover. He was hearing mumbling near where he parked his ship. It didn't take him long to find out why. He dodged several patrols that were going around until he saw the crowd around his ship. They were attempting fruitlessly to get inside it. As for why, well, it didn't matter as it was really pissing him off. No one touched his ship without his permission (or were trusted technicians or engineers). They were using saws that shattered as they attempted to get in and those that tried to fire on it got shocked by the active defenses.

Seeing red, he drew his blaster up and pulled another weapon out into his other hand. It looked like a double-barreled pistol where the two barrels were vertically separated by a magazine of what looked like metal flechettes. He activated his helmet and made sure the targeting reticles were ready. He pointed the flechette gun and fired. A soundless puff of metal sliding out of a barrel shot forward and impacted one of the soldiers in the neck. He emitted a grunt which alerted his comrades. They turned to look and see a man holding weapons bearing down on them. One stepped in front of the downed soldier. Bad move, he pulled another trigger and the thrown flechette returned to the bottom barrel of the pistol, piercing the stomach of the soldier on the way back.

Shouts of "What the-?" and "Fire!" were shouted by a commanding officer. They did, in fact, start to fire on him. But their shots were erratic, it was like they had never been in a firefight before. That was... unfortunate for them. Their shots went wide or came up short, none landed a hit. The man raised his blaster and fired, the particle blast landing square in the chest of a man who was lining up his sights on him. The impact of the blast sending him back into another of his comrades. But the onslaught didn't stop. He continued to fire shot after shot, killing or disabling those that stood before him. Eventually, all that stood before him were a pile of bodies of the dead, soon to be dead, or completely disarmed and disabled that were unable to fight.

He heard shouts coming from behind him and there, seemingly out of nowhere, was a platoon of the same armor and rifle-wielding enemies that had been trying to get inside his ship. Seeing as these new contacts looked to be much more battle hardened, he decided to make his escape. He pressed a button on his gauntlet and a portion of the viewport on the cockpit slide side. He activated his jet boots and boosted himself into the cockpit and once he cleared it, pressed the button again sealing the viewport shut once more.

Meanwhile, with the children, it had been a very trying half hour or so. They spent the first ten minutes feebly beating against the door that kept them from freedom. Once that had passed they had decided to just wait and see if the owner of the plane would allow them to leave before they went... wherever they were wanting to leave to. So, they started to look around the strange ship. It had three decks. The lowest seems to be a sort of engineering deck. They didn't go too deep into it as the only way onto that deck was a ladder and all that was down there was a bunch of machinery. The second, or main deck, seemed to be the deck where what looked like a conference table and living quarters were given the furniture there. The final deck was the upper deck connected by a ladder to the main deck, which had a set of seats; one of which had controls in front of it designating it as the pilot's seat. This was the cockpit.

They had already tried to look for any way to get out, but all of the consoles were dark and any messing with the flight stick did nothing. So, they settled with sitting around. Their little tour ended in less than twenty minutes. Then came the pounding from the outside as well as the shouting. It was the guards of the Plantation sent to retrieve them. Whatever they were shouting was muffled by the vessel's bulkhead. There were sounds of them attempting to get in, but inside the lights flashed and sounds of yelping pain would be heard shortly thereafter. This had continued on for the last half-hour, but then, everything seemed to change.

One of the main displays sitting on the conference table lit up and a holographic image of a commonly used rifle that the Plantation guards used appeared. The display seemed to be taking it apart virtually and put it back together. The children had never seen the inside of one of these rifles before, there were so many parts working together to make the rifle work. There was some kind of script going down on another display labeling whatever part showed up. The most time was spent on the canister that powered the Magma Energy cell.

"Guys, why is one of those rifles up there?" Kokoro asked worriedly.

"A better question is why it would turn on now?" Ichigo commented.

Those questions would be answered by the sounds of gunfire as well as the sound of the mystery man's weapon. The gunfire went silent and what sounded like a powered window slid open in the cockpit and a thud was heard before the window sound was heard again. There was the scrambling of boots until it sounded like he sat down in the pilot's chair.

Meanwhile, with the man, he was flipping various switches getting the engine primed to get the hell out of there. "Sweetheart, I need you to wake up," he said into a voice activated prompt system. Almost immediately the ship started to 'wake up'. Power started to flow from the main power plant to each of the ship's primary systems. The children, scared of getting discovered, hid in any nook or cranny they could.

A cold, female, robotic voice said, "Captain, several dozen foot-mobiles approaching with heavy ordinance."

"I know," he said in reply, his hands flying over consoles and displays. There was one in particular that he stopped at. He tapped a button and then dragged it over several boxes that showed as deactivated. Once he slid over them, they switched to 'activated, deployed'. There was the sound of metal doors opening on the hull and the sounds of whirring electrical motors and servos.

The children looked at one of the primary screens that showed what looked to be an eight-barreled gun with two rectangular protrusions on it. But there was a single three-letter acronym above it. "Guys, what does 'PDC' mean?" Miku asked with a whisper.

"Point defense cannons activated," the woman's voice chimed from the cockpit. The status of the 'deployed' point defense cannons changed to 'standby'. There was more electrical whirring and the 'standby' message changed to 'acquiring target'. Before the children could ask or wonder what it was targeting, the PDC status changed from 'acquiring target' to 'firing'. The ship was filled with the muffled sound of rapid-fire cannons firing on an unseen target. If they were to take a guess though, given who was there, it had to be the Plantation guards. They were horrified, there were guards that protected them when they weren't in their Franxx dying outside.

"We have to do something!" Zorome whisper shouted.

"And what, end up like them!?" Miku whisper shouted back. "He obviously killed everyone out there and who's to say he won't do the same to us?"

Meanwhile, in the cockpit, the now pilot was still flipping various switches and buttons in sequence until the ship roared to life. The engines kicking up dirt and loose rocks. The ship continued to rumble and what sounded like engine whining as the engines reached optimum levels of power.

"Warning: incoming projectile," the ship stated.

The pilot looked out the starboard viewport to see a soldier wielding a hefty looking rocket launcher. Not knowing the payload nor the yield and not wanting to take a risk. He pulled back hard so that the ship was at an unheard of eighty-degree angle in the blink of an eye. The hidden children in the back tumbled back towards the stern of the ship in an unorganized heap. The pilot saw as the unguided rocket sailed past him and exploded mostly harmlessly against a cliff face. The pilot maneuvered a much smaller joystick on his chair and targeted the shooter. He fired a burst of concentrated PDC fire at him. The soldier didn't stand a chance against rounds designed to shoot down TIE fighters. One moment he was there, the next there was only a pink mist.

Not wanting to test anything else on this once lush world, he initiated the throttle and the ship took off at unimaginable speeds. Or at least to this planet, this was considered quite average for ships of this class. It only took a minute to get into high orbit and things were already starting to float. This was something that the children discovered quickly as hair was floating like in water and loose objects were starting to lift off their surfaces, like the children.

"Activating artificial gravity," the ship said. Immediately, all things that were floating immediately dropped to the deck.

"Sweetheart, chart the fastest course to our rendezvous," the pilot commanded.

"Acknowledged." On the table, a hologram appeared of what looked to be a galaxy. A circle appeared near the mid-center of what would be considered south-east of the galaxy and a red line started to be drawn from that point, out south towards the edge, and then sharply banked towards north towards the center. "Course charted. Proceed to the waypoint outside the planet's gravity well."

"I know that," he groaned. This wasn't the first time when the computer core had stated the obvious.

During that ordeal in which they had been subjected to tremendous G-Forces for the first time in their short lives, they had managed to put everything together. A galaxy map, a craft that could fly in space? This man was an alien. The displays that showed the PDC statuses returned to 'deactivated' and the green color that had surrounded the boxes returned to red. Diagnostics started to run on them in a language that they didn't understand. They stood up shakily. It was then Hiro got one of his worse ideas, if this was a spaceship, then he needed to get the pilot to land _now_ or else they would be stuck here. He started to climb towards the ladder that led to the cockpit. As he did he saw the moon fly past the glass display above him. A few more second and the pilot was a few more meters in front of him. But then, something happened.

"Gravity well cleared," the ship reported.

"Initiating hyperspace jump," the man said to himself.

What Hiro saw would be one of the few things that would stay with him for the rest of his life. The stars, now unshrouded from Earth's long polluted atmosphere revealing their true beauty, elongated into long lines before they were shot forward as if out of a cannon. Hiro fell back and down the ladder, but he could see what looked like a blue swirling tunnel now. It was then Hiro realized his mistake and heard the draw of metal on leather.

"Goddamn it, we have a stowaway," the man angrily shouted as he pointed his blaster at Hiro. "Tach, run a life sign scan, make sure we're not the only ones here."

"Acknowledged: running a vessel-wide scan for additional life forms," the ship, now called Tach, obeyed. The rest of the children still unseen in the hold held their breath in horror, they were about to be discovered. "Nine additional contacts detected, locations updated to your HUD," it reported.

The man charged his blaster pistol and made sure that the sound of it charging was heard over the sounds of computers and ship machinery. He pointed it at Hiro and activated the laser sight so that it was pointing visibly at his chest. "Unless you want your friend here to become Swiss cheese, show yourselves," he commanded. He turned off the safety which sounded like a clicking followed by a hum. "You have until the count of three." There was no response, but Hiro got up and leaned against the holographic table. "One..." nothing "two..." he pointed the blaster at Hiro's head "thr-!"

"Ok, we're coming out," a girl's voice, Ichigo announced. Slowly, nine other children, barely teenage, came slinking out of the shadows.

"Sweetheart, why didn't you tell me sooner that we had stowaways?"

"Because we were being fired upon and self-preservation protocols state that the life of the pilot comes first," the ship replied.

"And if they were armed?" he asked, clearly annoyed, as the children gathered in front of him.

"Then the decks would have been electrified."

"And if _I_ was here?"

"You would have been fine; your insulated boots would have protected you from the shock." He started to grumble as he gestured the blaster towards under the ladder and to the right. At the forwardmost section of the ship below the cockpit was a small loading bay for cargo.

One of the children mumbled as they were being led away at gunpoint, "Why don't we just take him? There's ten of us and one of him." It was Zorome.

"Because I have a helmet and can depressurize this entire cabin either until you're all unconscious or dead while I would be perfectly fine," the pilot replied nonchalantly. Once they were underneath in the bay, the pilot stood on the other side of a threshold. "Activate ray shields," he commanded. Immediately, a translucent energy field appeared over both doorframes that led back onto the main deck. He pulled up a chair as Zero Two started to charge the shield. "I wouldn't-," there was the sound of flesh being electrocuted and thrown back onto the deck. It was a security shield meant for prisoners, so stun settings only. He knew there were some shields that could outright disintegrate those that ran into them. "-do that," he finished. The one girl that had red horns coming out of her skull was smoking from the shock. He set the chair in front of the door, holstered his gun, and straddled the chair backward. "Tell me why I shouldn't just space you for trespassing on my property."

"We didn't mean to trespass," Hiro said in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "We just wandered upon your ship and got stuck inside it."

"Oh? And how did you get inside?"

"The doors opened and we came inside, then they closed again," Hachi replied.

"Oh, yeah right," he said in disbelief. Clearly skeptical of this.

"Captain, logs show that a remote signal from your gauntlet was sent were you were at the artifact site," Tach reported. "There was one sent a few minutes later that closed the primary boarding hatch." The ship had shown the logs on one of the displays near him.

He still stared them down but looked at the text logs. Sure enough, he was the cause of these kids being aboard his ship. "Fine, it's my fault you're on my ship. But I can't take you back," he said still clearly annoyed. "I'll drop you on some planet and you can start over there."

The children stared at him in disbelief. Earth was their home. Their duty was to kill and defeat the Klaxosaurs. "But, we have to go back," Futoshi said.

"Yeah," Zorome echoed, "our Plantations are depending on us!"

The pilot rounded on them. "You don't know how expensive it is to travel out here, do you?" he asked. He brought up the map of the galaxy and flipped a setting. Immediately boundaries started to form on the map. "You see here?" He pointed to their dot which was slowly moving towards the first waypoint. "This is Wild Space, essentially on the edge of the Unknown Regions. No one comes out here unless they're looking for a huge payday to offset their costs or are some government funded exploration group. You see, this," he showed the box that they saw him grab back at that ancient temple, "is going to be my payday which will pay for what I needed to get out here as well as the next few years' expenses."

"It doesn't look like much," Miku said in disbelief and dismissal.

"Yeah, it wouldn't look like much to you, but some things are worth more than pure elemental resources and there are those that are willing to part with a lot of Credits for it. You should be thanking me for getting you off that rock for free," he said pointing to a new image of Earth, it's sickly image marring the screen. "That planet? It's dying. It's got maybe a few centuries left before it's nothing more than a barren rock. I've got a couple of contacts, you'll be fine."

"But we have to get back!" Hiro shouted desperately. "If we don't our Plantation will be exposed and able to be easily attacked by the Klaxosaurs!"

"I'm sorry, the what?" the pilot said in disbelief. He remembered the Latin words that his grandfather used to shoot around, but the only thing he could get out of it from basic word construction was 'loud lizards'.

"Klaxosaurs," Mitsuru replied, confused as to why this Adult didn't know what Humanity's enemy was.

"Yeah, you lost me. What the fuck is a Klaxosaur?"

"Giant biomechanical enemies that have been attacking humanity for a hundred years," Zero Two replied. It had been a while since she had said anything. Probably because there wasn't much to say until now.

"Yeah, not ringing a bell. Last I was on Earth Bush senior was finishing up his first term in office." He started to get looks from the kids. "What?"

"The United States of America joined APE almost a hundred years ago," Ikuno stated.

"Yeah, and?"

"You don't look to be over a hundred years old."

"That's what getting slingshot around a celestial body a relativistic speed gets you," he shrugged off.

"You're taking this rather well," Ichigo commented.

"Well, when you've been kidnapped by pirates when you were eight-years-old and the ship you're hitching an involuntary ride on gets attacked by the Ascendancy for 'trespassing'-," he had to make sure to include air quotes, "-and your escape pod you steal in the chaos gets slung around a star, you tend to get over being thrown over a hundred years in the future quite quickly as survival becomes paramount." He looked at the now browned planet. "Looks like you did a bang-up job of destroying her."

"Who are you?" Hiro asked.

The man paused, he contemplated telling them nothing. But he figured as fellow Terrans it wouldn't hurt. "Name's John Kazden, pilot for hire. You need something found or transported and you got the Credits, I'm your man."

 **Probably to be continued in a part 2...**

XxXxXxX

 **Well, there's another story done. And at around 7.6k words. Not bad for a pilot. This was one of those interesting stories that as a pilot could end here without issue, but I think I'll expand on this one in either a part 2 or 3 here in the same repository as a short set of stories. Probably not big enough to be their own thing, but small enough to still store here.**

 **So, in this one, we did have a few interesting things show up. For example, the guns John uses are the NEMEX pistol from** _ **Altered Carbon**_ **that obviously fires blaster rounds. The second one he used was the flechette railgun which allows for unlimited ammo if you return the round. The top barrel fires, the bottom returns allowing for multiple casualties if they're not careful. The ship that was used was the visual representation of Star-Lord's** _ **Milano**_ **which is named the** _ **Tachi**_ **in this story. And finally, the PDCs are from** _ **The Expanse**_ **. There is also a scene that echoes _Halo 3_ 's trailer, can you find which one that is?**

 **Without spoiling a lot, there's a lot of things that I would like to explore in this. Especially since after this story had been created and sat upon for a few weeks** _ **FRANXX**_ **decided to go a bit off the deep end and go full Gurren Lagaan in the final few episodes. Basically, it would be how the kids would react if there was an interstellar civilization out there that don't want to assimilate them (VIRM). Even if this makes it out of the repository, it wouldn't be very long. Maybe a total of 5 chapters? Less? I don't know.**

 **Another interesting thing about this fic was the complete exclusion of "x POV" when swapping perspectives. See peeps, it can be done! Seriously, that's one of my biggest pet peeves that I've run into on almost every fanfic site, thought I'd shake it up a bit.**

 **But anyway, what did you think of this story? Good? Bad? At least interesting? Let me know.**

 **Also, I can't believe I have to reiterate to not ask me to write other stories that I don't currently want to work on. You guys don't pay me, therefore, I think I'm well within my rights to do whatever I please. And no, I'm not going to start a or so that you can donate so you can tell me what to do.**

 **But regardless, see you guys all next time in whatever I do next.**


	42. A SI Vegas fic (Love Lucky inspired)

**Ok, so I recently released my** _ **Zero's Familiar**_ **self-insert story and I thought it was a good premise, whether I come back to it or not is another story. Pun intended. But as I was writing it, I came across a few of those Blood Brandy Vegas challenge stories out there, some good and some bad. I'm not going to say which is which as I'm a picky person and like things a certain way and I know you guys all have your tastes so I will leave that "good" or "bad" labeling to you.**

 **Aside from being made, let's segue on to the idea and where it came from. A while back I was doing some thinking about a manga I read where a dude married an idol secretly and has to keep the whole thing a secret because of the industry. Mainly, that if the fans of this idol discovered she was no longer on the "market" as it were then none of the target audience would come to her shows, she wouldn't get booked, she would then be out of a job; or some of the more fanatical fans might target her newlywed husband to make it so that she's "available" once more. One Google search later revealed the title of this manga to be "Love Lucky", a borderline-H manga (which means it's definitely NSFW but also not porn at the same time). Back in the day, this used to be a well-liked manga by me that I would read off of some pretty shady sites before I started using more legal means to read my Japanese, reverse reading comics.**

 **That being said, I'm beating around the bush. So, where does that self-insert Zero's Familiar story, this "Love Lucky" manga, and that Vegas challenge come into this? Well, I was thinking of using that manga as the base for a self-insert story where a self-imposed character based on me ends of getting married to a Japanese idol on vacation in Vegas and shenanigans ensue. By the way, I love the word "shenanigans". Sounds interesting, right? I hope so.**

 **Title: So... my wife's an idol**

 **Summary: When you get drunk, you make some questionable decisions. I'm not sure if getting married to a Japanese Idol would be considered a mistake or questionable.**

 **Rating: T+ to M – It really depends on how much innuendo and descriptions I put into this. It is supposed to be a more mature RomCom-type fic.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my copy of MS Word and my laptop. I only own original characters. Any resemblance to the plot of** _ **Love Lucky**_ **belongs to Katsu Aki. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.**

XxXxXxX

"Talking."

Thoughts from first person.

XxXxXxX

Hangovers suck. It's a fact of life for those that drink more than they probably should. The headaches, the dry and patchy throat, regret. These things and more are the results of excessive drinking. As for why I was drinking? Well, that's a whole different story. You see, I'm here in fancy-ass Las Vegas, Nevada on a little vacation. But this wasn't a fun vacation. No, this was a vacation to forget. I should probably do a little backtracking here to really give a fuller picture of why I was here.

You see, originally, I was going to come here with my fiancé of five years to celebrate our wedding. You know, see all the glitz and glamor of a big city. Do a little high rolling. That kind of thing before we went to another place on our honeymoon itinerary. But as one could guess, I was here alone. Well, there's a reason for that. And there's a reason why this is all being told in the past tense. You see, the woman that I thought was the love of my life and my complete other half decided to cheat with my now former best friend. Turns out that they've been fucking behind my back now for almost two years. To say that I felt betrayed would be an understatement. I mean, this was a woman to which I shared all my deepest, darkest secrets and desires to (i.e.: things I wouldn't tell anyone in public). We had agreed to be exclusive with each other years ago and agreed to get married. Of course, I felt betrayed and there was no wonder why. So, I dropped the cheating whore faster than you can say "you cheating whore".

So, why am I in Vegas in particular? I mean, why go to the place that I was going to spend my honeymoon in? The first reason was that the plane tickets were nonrefundable and the hotel that we had planned to stay at wouldn't refund my deposit. So, I took a singular plane trip to Vegas to stay in a fancy hotel all by myself. I spent the entirety of my first day here hitting the Blackjack tables and cleaned house. Ok, I'm overexaggerating a bit. More like I left with fifty times what I started with. You might think that that's a lot, well it sort of is. I started with about a thousand dollars and got fifty thousand. While again, this may seem like a lot, I have a feeling that my ex will try and nickel and dime me for the wedding and all that accommodations that we were supposed to have. And of course, the expenses. But that is something for future me to take care of. Current me is currently hungover and feeling sick.

I slowly crawl my way out of the bed and wobblily walk my way over to the spacious bathroom and barely make it to the toilet to rolf up whatever I had eaten or drank within the last few hours or so. Kids, don't drink excessively or you'll be worshipping the porcelain throne. That's just a little life advice from yours truly. Feeling the last of my dry heaving cease I flush the sick away and look in the mirror. I sort of look like a wreck. Bloodshot eyes, stubble, and just looking overall disheveled in appearance. I could use a hot shower right about now. It was roughly about then did I notice something that I should have the moment I got out of bed, I was naked. And for clarification, I don't mean I was wearing just a t-shirt and boxers or just boxers. Nope, I mean full nude to the point where I could feel the air conditioning in places where that would normally be uncomfortably cold.

While being naked wasn't super uncomfortable especially since this wouldn't have been the first time I slept naked, I was confused as to why. I mean, there's a reason for everything to do. If you're hungry, you eat. If your bladder is about to burst, you take a piss. And so on ad Infinium. I'm not going to go on forever, you can take any result and add a reasoning as to why you did it. Not rocket science. Well, for sure the naked part was the result of something. However, that wasn't jogging any thoughts as to why.

I walked, groggily towards the bed once more. I really needed to sleep off this hangover. A pounding headache? Yeah, sleep is needed. Maybe some aspirin. As I did, there was something on the bed that caught my eye, a shape in the bedding, a lump, if you would. And said lump was breathing. I leaned over to see a woman, but not just any woman. Her skin was a pale tan (kind of an oxymoronic statement), her face a soft heart shape, eyes of the shape of Asiatic descent, a small buttonlike nose, and long black hair. In short, she was cute. And the other thing? She was naked in my bed. It didn't take me long to connect the dots. I was naked, she was naked, I felt exhausted and sore primarily in my groin region, and she looked to have that 'glow' that women apparently get on their wedding day. It was less of an actual glow but an aura of that feeling, but that point aside I narrowed it down. I had slept with this woman.

Ok... this wasn't so bad. I mean, it wasn't the first time that this had happened to me. In fact, it was how I met my ex-fiancé. It was at that moment, I realized that I had a problem. I think I have a problem.

She started to stir signified by sharp intakes of breath. She rolled over and the bedsheet that covered her fell down revealing her naked and fairly large naked breasts. Her eyes fluttered open and immediately locked on me and my naked form standing above the bed. Her eyes trailed down towards my junk and a blush started to color her cheeks and her eyes then quickly jumped to meet mine.

"Good morning," she said in highly accented English, it definitely wasn't her first language. If I was going to make an educated guess, I'd say that she was either from Korea or Japan.

"Morning," I replied back trying to keep my eyes level with hers instead of those tempting globes of flesh. "I, uh, hate to sound like an ass, but what are you doing here?" I ask as carefully as possible. After all, I don't want to sound like a complete asshole this beautiful woman. She seemed to get really embarrassed as she remembered what happened the previous night. A night that was all but a haze for me. She lifted her hand up and showed me the diamond ring on her ring finger. That ring rang a bell. "Hey, that looks familiar..."

She nodded. "You had it on you when we got married by an Elvis impersonator," she replied letting the diamond in the center of the ring catch the light just right.

It was then that it all came back to me. How this beautiful woman and I ended up in the same room and ended up married.

XxXxXxX

 **The previous night...**

I was currently sitting at the blackjack table, a hostess next to me bringing drinks courtesy of the House. It's safe to say that they're annoyed that I'm winning as much money as I currently am. I'm not card counting or using any methods other than the above 18 rule. That being if you get above an 18, you Stay, below that you Hit. More often than not you'll win using that rule. In fact, my last hand won me on a perfect 21. One thing I noticed is that they swapped from the standard two deck decks to three decks. They wanted me to lose. How could I tell? There were three Ace of Spades on the table. I lucked out of that hand and only lost a hundred out of my winnings and noped the fuck out of there before I ended up in the hole.

I approached the bar with my popcorn tub of winnings under my arm. I swayed slightly from side to side slightly and sat down next to a hunched over figure. The barkeep was quick to come over seeing my winnings in an attempt to recoup some of the casino's losses through some top shelf cocktails. And I'm pretty sure that the bartender gets something as a little something-something if they get chips as payment.

"What can I do you for?" he asked with a neutral accent. Either he was really good at masking his or I was too drunk to tell.

"Pint of Guinness for me," I replied. I then put my left hand on the person next to me. "-and one more of whatever my new friend is having." The bartender shrugged and provided me a frosted pint glass of stout and he took a little while longer to provide a classy looking martini to the person next to me. I raised my beer up to the person next to me. "To new friends," I held the bottle out in a toast.

The figure, whom I just noticed was a woman, grabbed the glass with her finely manicured hand and sat up from a heads-down position to tilt her glass towards me and said, "Cheers," in a heavily accented tone that definitely signified that she wasn't from around here nor was English her first language.

I took a sip of my beer and looked her down. She looked to be dressed casually, well, casually as one with high-end threads could be. I mean, this was top of the line stuff. I'm not a fashionista (fashinosto?), but I could read tags even in my inebriated state. "So, what brings you here to Vegas?" I ask. She seemed to mutter under her breath, but obviously, I couldn't understand her. "Pardon?"

"I'm trying to get away," she said sounding exhausted. She laid her head back down on the bar sideways looking at me, or well, at the person that she was speaking to. "You know, just getting away from it all."

"Oh?" I ask with legitimate interest. I mean, she is a beautiful woman and I could use some company, running solo in Vegas was not only lonely but also sort of stupid as opportunists could try and pick me as a target. I'm a utilitarian. "Work?"

"Yes, it is..." she paused searching for the right word, "...very stressful."

"What kind of work?" I pressed.

"I... can't really go into details, but it involves working with people," she hesitated, obviously keeping something secret.

"I agree, people can be stressful," I agree with another drink. After all, my job involves me working with them.

"And then I get brought all the way out here for a PR thing," she went on. She suddenly closed her mouth as she realized she might have said too much.

"Business trip, huh? Well, it could be up north in the middle of winter, but luckily you're in the middle of a desert. A desert oasis called Vegas," I say with prestidigitation.

She looked at me and examined my person. Obviously, she saw my average clothes that you can get from your average Kohl's store. "So, what brings you here?" she asked me.

I sort of stared off behind her for a moment thinking that someone would appear. "I'm on vacation," I reply, not entirely telling the truth up front, but it also wasn't a lie. Part of her could tell since she gave me a look as such. "Fine," I sighed, "I'm here because my bitch of an ex-fiancé was cheating on me and I decided to blow off some steam."

"The love of your life betrayed you?" she asked, the tone she used hinted at compassion towards me.

I took another sip of my beer. "Yep. Ungrateful whore cheated on me with my now former best friend. Turns out they were old fuck buddies when they were back in college. Apparently, all our years together meant nothing to her." I took another drink.

"She sounds like a horrible person."

"Hear, hear," I agreed. I then looked at her, "So, what's your name?"

She shifted slightly as if she was uncomfortable. But before I could tell her that it was alright and that she didn't have to tell me her name, she said, "Rise." However, it was definitely said 'Ree•sé'.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Rise. I'm Phil."

"Nice to meet you too," she said with sincerity.

"So, what are you doing after this?" I ask.

From there the night was a blur. However, there were a few 'scenes' that stood out to me. There were several bars and clubs, Elvis, and of course me engaging in the carnal, horizontal mambo with a cute Japanese woman whose name happens to be Rise.

XxXxXxX

 **Present day...**

It hit me then like a ton of bricks. I had met Rise in a hotel bar, we went out drinking to the point of memory impairment, gotten married at an Elvis impersonator church (a stereotypical staple of Vegas), and then proceeded to consummate said marriage. I immediately covered myself up and started to stammer and stutter, "Listen, I didn't mean to get you involved like this."

She seemed embarrassed and slightly offended. She didn't cover herself up, in fact, she sat up in the bed allowing her naked flesh to be seen by me. "So, you don't like my body?" she asked.

"No! I mean, you're very beautiful and any man worthy of you would be lucky enough to be graced by your presence alone."

"So, what are you saying?"

I had to take a deep breath and gather my thoughts. "What I mean is that I wish I didn't marry you in such a... unceremonious manner. Not only that, but I know nothing about you other than your name and that you're very beautiful."

"Well, let's rectify that," she said chipperly. She leaped out of bed and, while nude and with little shame aimed my way, struck a pose that I had seen several Japanese singers do before. What were they called again? "I'm Rise Yoshida. I'm 25 years old and I'm on vacation from a finished tour as a Japanese Idol. Nice to meet you!"

Oh yeah, Idols! Wait... Idol? The kind of music celebrity that couldn't date or almost go out in public as themselves lest crazy fans go after them and their loved ones? Dear Lord, what I have I gotten myself into. On the bright side though, she was cute.

XxXxXxX

 **And there we go, another pilot done. Now, what am I going to do about this one? If you remember back in that intro, I mentioned that this was heavily inspired by** _ **Love Lucky,**_ **a manga where a very similar thing happens. Except in that one, it's an arranged marriage not a drunken stint in Vegas. And that's not a spoiler as that happens in the first few chapters of Volume 1. What I want to explore in this story, should it continue, is my self-insert's ability to cope with a wife with a demanding job with hundreds of thousands of adoring fans that would like nothing better than to beat his face in and take his wife for his own. He'll have to deal with a producer that wants to see his Rise happy but at the same time doesn't like her choice that she made. And there's so much more than I can explore with this using the previously mentioned manga as a source of inspiration as I'm unaware of the idol lifestyle in their private life (although** _ **Idolm aster**_ **and** _ **Love Live**_ **might be good sources as well for those details).**

 **But as for this story idea, let me know what you think about it in the normal places.**

 **As for those that keep telling me to update stories I haven't worked on in months, please see Rule #8 in the Foreword, thank you.**

 **See you all next time in whatever I do next!**


	43. A GitS x HP (cyborg Harry) pilot

**Some notes before we begin. Today I'm going to bring you a little** _ **Harry Potter**_ **/** _ **Ghost in the Shell: Arise**_ **crossover pilot. Whether this will go further than one chapter has yet to be seen. First and foremost I would like to say that I do not own either of these works at all and I am not making any revenue off these properties, I'm only playing in their sandboxes before colliding them together and playing yet again in the remains of the two properties colliding. I would also like to say that I love both of these properties for multiple reasons, the HP series as I grew up with it and GitS because it has such a fascinating story to tell and let's admit that most of us would love to live in a cyberpunk world. Dat internet, am I right?**

 **Title: Magic in a Shell**

 **Rating: T-M: Given the fact that GitS is a "mature" rated show, this wouldn't shock me if this evolves into an M-rating later on.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost in the Shell or Harry Potter, they belong to Masamune Shirow, Studio IG, JK Rowling, and Warner Brothers respectively. I only own non-canon personalities and OC's that may appear. Let's get this show on the road, now shall we?**

XxXxXxX

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"'Quoting something to someone'"

" **Anything said over the phone or telecommunications** "

*/Anything sent as a text message or email/*

XxXxXxX

 _ **2020, Surrey**_

Life was not kind to little Harry Potter. At the tender age of fifteen months, he had lost his father to a sociopath with an agenda that resembled Hitler's Nazism to a T with the "pureblood" supremacy, when the Potter family home in Godric's Hollow was attacked by the one known as Voldemort. His father stalled the Dark Lord as long as he could while his mother performed a ritual to save their son. Just as she finished the Dark Lord burst through the door between them and immobilized the poor mundane (1) woman, to both mentally torture her and to fulfill the bargain that he had struck up with one Severus Snape, and proceeded to cast the Killing Curse with the infamous incantation of 'Avada Kadavra.'

The ritual did not take Lily Potter nee Evans soul, as was the agreement between her and Lady Death, but of her husband whose body had not yet cooled. You see the Killing Curse didn't kill the person struck but pushed out their very soul out of their body (2). One of the curse's side effects is that it prevents the soul from returning to the body before the soul could re-enter the body, killing the target as the soul is no longer in the body. James was right beside his wife, ready to take her hand as they would face the Lady Death together, however, he was taken in her place. The curse rebounded and struck the Dark Lord, as his soul was weakened from being split already into six total and unequal parts, was disintegrated to only leave smoldering black robes.

Lily took her son and left as soon as the Dark Lord's magic ceased to exist to hold her. They lived in relative peace in London. She took night classes at a local college to finish her Computer Science degree so she could make a living to take care of herself and her son. Lily had succeeded and graduated at the top of her class and was hired on to one of London's top tech companies that manufactured nanomachines for both civilian and military contracts. They made a decent living for two years before Lily discovered something that she wasn't supposed to, the ones behind it put a hit out on her but specified that it was to look like a complete accident. Her car's computer was hacked by an outside source and while she was at a stoplight the car gunned straight into an oncoming lorry (3) which struck Lily, who was on her way to take her son to daycare.

Lily died instantly from a shard of auto glass that made its way into her temple. Her son was taken to a local hospital where it was discovered that he wouldn't make it through the night with the injuries to his internal organs and internal bleeding, unless they did something that had only been done once (4) in Newport City in Japan close to ten years ago to an unborn child whose parents had died in a terrorist attack. The decision was made that the three-year-old boy was to become a cyborg, his only human part being his brain.

The organic body parts were extracted and kept in medical stasis until a full-body prosthesis could be acquired from a company overseas. Some of the nurses on staff, as well as the corner, swore they saw a pitch black mist rise up from the open-looking scar on his forehead and swear by it to this very day. Once the parts were obtained, the surgery began. It lasted dozens of hours involving several brain surgeons in and out of the country who performed their parts via internet connected surgical robots.

A few months later he was released into the custody of his aunt and uncle after much rehabilitation. As he grew older he was constantly berated as a 'freak' by his uncle and cousin and told that his parents were drunks and freaks as well. The doctors and nurses at the hospital called him 'special' and helped him while his own flesh and blood berated him. It wasn't uncommon for Harry to recede into his own consciousness to remember his parents. As he was still a child his memories of his parents were jumbled and partially blurred. He knew that his father had shaggy black hair and his mother had vibrant red hair and looked 'pretty'. He mentioned it to his aunt once and got a beating from his uncle for it. While he was mostly a robot, he could still feel physical pain. In those times he retreated into his mind, just thinking.

Harry was never allowed any food as 'cyborgs don't need food' as his uncle would tell him. For five years he never got any food or water, but something always kept him alive (5). Had he been human completely he would look starved and malnourished, but he only had his brain. When he turned four his aunt and uncle would force him to do chores ranging from cooking all their meals to doing heavy labor in the yard. Though his body would never tire, he always _FELT_ tired.

Today Harry turned ten. Most children made a big deal out of it at school and around the neighborhood. For him though it was 'business as usual' where he would wake up, cook breakfast and prepare Dudley and Vernon's lunches, go to school in ragged clothes, literally sit there and think, come home, do chores again, cook supper, do more chores or finish ones not finished before cooking supper, and going to bed under a staircase.

Harry had just come home from primary school and was weeding his aunt's garden. It had become sort of a therapeutic exercise for him, it allowed him to get away from his verbally abusive aunt, and physically and verbally abusive uncle and cousin. They wouldn't bother him while gardening as if Harry botched up the garden while he was working it then Petunia would go off on them too. Harry kept on his borderline autonomous task until he felt something on the back of his neck like someone was behind him. He turned around and saw what could only be described as a robotic spider with four legs and two arms.

"Hello!" it greeted Harry with a wave.

"Umm… hi?" he replied shyly.

"I'm Tachikoma!" the child synthesized voice of the tank stated. "What's your name?"

"My aunt, uncle, and cousin call me 'Freak' or 'boy' and not in a nice way."

*/Red flag noted. Continue with questioning./* appeared on the tank's heads-up display. "Why would they call you that? You look normal to me. Well normal as it relates to a human with a ghost that is," the robot corrected itself, its three-camera 'eye' spun once.

"I'm not human. I'm a robot freak," the boy replied. Synthetic tears leaked out.

*/Secondary red flag noted: emotional distress./* appeared on the HUD. "You know… I could check for you, I mean I'm technically not supposed to though…" it trailed. "I mean you look human and don't exhibit any behaviors that pre-programmed synthetics, like me, have. Plus I'm pretty sure you have a ghost."

"What's a ghost?"

The Tachikoma placed a robotic finger on its chassis in a thinking pose, "Some people also tend to call it a soul, which again synthetics don't have." A tentacle-like appendage came out of the robot's 'hand'. "If you want it'd take only a few minutes."

'Do I really have a soul or ghost? Am I actually alive?' Harry asked himself. "I guess so," he finally replied.

"Hurray!" the robot said cheerfully as it jumped a little off the ground. "Don't worry this won't hurt at all," it said before attaching the cable into the terminal in the base of the boy's neck. "You might feel a bit of an icy sensation in your brain (6)."

Harry then felt as though something that felt like a cold vicious liquid entered his mind, then he himself was pulled into his 'inner sanctum' where he just thought for hours on end. The intelligent robot zoomed around the room looking at the painting on the wall, Harry's personal representation of his memories and thoughts.

"Your mind is weird compared to others," Harry's body language slumped at the unintentional insult. One of the camera pods caught this. "When I say 'weird' I mean different," it corrected quickly. "Usually people have some sort of web where things are interconnected with one another, yours looks like one of those fancy museums that I'm not allowed in for some reason. I think it has something to do with me having a machine gun attached to my arm." It zipped around the room some more and saw some disturbing images involving the child and his blood relatives. */Logging visual information for later examination. Warning: Information will not hold up in the court of law, actual testimony required./* "Well you're human," the Tachikoma finally stated.

"I am?"

"Yep, according to the bylaws concerning cybernetic augmentation and prosthetics, as long as you have at least one organ in your body, primarily the brain, then you are still classified as human."

Harry was about to say something back to the tank, but the connection between the two was severed suddenly.

"BOY!" a fat walrus-like man yelled at the cybernetic child. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TALKING TO _ANYBODY_?!" The child whimpered in fear. "NOW GET INSIDE!" The boy complied quickly, running inside. "And as for you, GET OFF MY PROPERTY!"

The Tachikoma straightened up in a serious fashion. "Please note that this confrontation has been logged with Section 3 security forces for further review. Have a pleasant day, _sir_ ," the tank implied much sarcasm on that last part as the man definitely belonged to a species that had more blubber than muscle. It then sped off and turned a corner, an icon appeared in its HUD stating that the report for Section 3 had been filed and all relevant files had been uploaded and included.

XxXxXxX

 _ **Two months later**_

Inspector Jeremy Lawson sat inside his office enjoying his late afternoon tea as he looked through the reports filed by other Public Security agents as well as the Tachikomas on patrol. Some were the common pub brawls after hours, others were reports on items stolen by a robbery ring, and a few other domestic disturbance calls in the community. There was one report that caught his eye, it was from almost two months ago with several follow-ups by the same Tachikoma, according to the report it was Tachikoma B-312 (7). It had reported a probable abuse case on a child who had all cybernetic parts, all of which were registered to a hospital in London from almost seven years ago.

According to hospital records the boy's name was originally 'John Doe' before the mother's name was discovered, a Lily Potter nee Evans, who according to record had a son named Harrison James Potter. She had died on impact with a lorry at an intersection. No illegal substances were in her system, nor was her neural interface active. Officially the death was ruled a suicide, her husband had died two years earlier by the hands of some mass murderer who had gone completely under the radar (8). According to her personal history she lived in Cokeworth where she went to a public school and was able to skip several grades. When she turned eleven she went completely off the radar for eight months out of the year for seven years. Before she left she had daily communications with parents, friends, and other family members; when she returned the first June her internet activity dropped down to almost nothing, an occasional message here and there, but most of her accounts remained inactive for years.

When she turned eighteen she re-emerged and obtained a marriage license from a local priest in Godric's Hollow and was officially married to a James Charlus Potter, who had absolutely no past. While the marriage was legal there was only a driver's license and a passport under his name. No internet activity other than one single email account under his name; even then he only received emails from several people and they always talked in code. Their last known address was in Godric's Hollow, when investigated after the mother's death there was only a burned out husk of a house. It had been concluded that after her husband died she moved away from all the memories to attempt a start at a new life. She got a job as a programmer at a major company for close to two years, then she suddenly died in that accident. What causes a woman that has a child to care for and a well-paying job to just commit suicide? To the investigating officer, this was the question asked. As the woman only had one living relative, a sister, the woman was less than cooperative with the officer as she wanted nothing to do with her sister.

There was a thought that a maneuver called 'Boston Brakes' (9) had been pulled, however, that was not conclusive, so the case remained a suicide on record. Custody had been given to the boy's aunt and uncle after he was released from the hospital. There were reports of an odd man in purple robes roaming the hospital after the operation looking for 'a boy with a lightning-shaped scar.' The man later left after making a fuss and local security got involved. The man later returned with the boy's blood relatives and they then took custody of the child. Ever since then the kid's been a ghost. There were postings on a rumor site that housewives from Surrey used that declared the child to be a delinquent and a rabble-rouser. Initial grades uploaded to his primary school's server showed promise of a prodigy, however, after the first test, they dropped down to barely passing grades. This caused another question to pop into the inspector's mind, what causes a smart child to just become 'stupid' immediately?

Going back to the reports, he reviewed the footage of the child's uncle, especially the first time Tachikoma came around. It was disturbing, to say the least by behavior alone. The uncle's behavior wasn't _that_ out of the ordinary, parents were hard on their children when it came to punishments, however, there was evidence that the man's child was treated better than the cyborg boy and many of his actions were ignored while the boy's was not.

Inspector Larson slid the screen of his tablet displaying the report up and down as he contemplated his options. Legally, his department had the right to barge in and confiscate the child, ethically was another story as the current British law enforcement was under scrutiny for actions as of late by rogue elements inside it. His eye wandered over to the hard image he kept on his desk containing his wife and daughter. His daughter had a missing leg that had been replaced years ago by a cybernetic one. She was an unfortunate victim of an accident in which her entire right leg was crushed and the bones turned to dust. Or, well, fragmented to such a degree that they may as well be dust. Recovery would be long and there was only a single digit percentage that should ever be able to use that leg again outside of extreme and extensive cybernetic replacement parts. He and his wife had made the tough decision to amputate the limb including the hip joint and replace it with a cybernetic one. Recovery was still a long process, but now at the age of fourteen, his sweet daughter was like any other person walking the streets. Indistinguishable from any other person, fully organic or otherwise.

It was at that moment he made his decision. He saved the most recent edits to the report and attached it to an interoffice email and sent it to both his supervisor as well as the office of the head of Children's Welfare. One way or another, this kid out be out of the home he was in.

XxXxXxX

 _ **Surrey, late night.**_

To say the residents of the small village of Surrey were awakened quite rudely was an understatement. They had been sleeping soundly in their beds for hours until the sirens and shouting started. Concerned onlookers (see: gossip mongers) came out to see quite the shocking sight. Being led out by gunpoint in handcuffs were the Dursley family. A so-called 'pillar' of the community. Or, at least that's what the neighborhood wanted them to think. None of them could really stand the 'walrus', the 'giraffe', and the 'pig'.

Many found that the giraffe's sense of humor tasteless and repetitive. She told the same joke over and over again and the adults of the neighborhood pretended to laugh while they inwardly sighed or rolled their eyes. The walrus was in appearance to how he acted, he was a lazy slob that only went to work for appearance's sake. There were rumors that he had been visiting cybernetic brothels as well as illicit casinos (those without a license or were run by the criminal underworld). The pig ran around with his merry little band of bullies who tended to break property and bully other kids and blame it on others; primarily his live-in cousin who just so happened to be a full cyborg.

The sort of karmic thing was that everyone in the neighborhood (sans the odd woman living across the street from them) were either full cyborgs or had some cybernetic parts in them. That made talking behind the backs of the Dursleys easy and simple. Thoughts traveled faster than words could be spoken. To the onlookers, there were both surprised as well as not at the same time. It was only a matter of time until the family of animals was corralled for the abuse of their nephew, but at the same time, they were shocked it took this long. Years of police reports had just disappeared. There were already posts going on social media stating that the police were finally doing their job.

Meanwhile, with the Dursleys, they were having the worst day of their lives. They were utterly and completely humiliated. They saw their neighbors looking at them from their doorstops giving them dirty looks. Some of them even looked smug. Out of all of them, there was one who was not there, one Arabella Figg who lived right across from them. She would usually show up with that bearded, garish robe wearing, freak Dumbledore to smooth it all over, but he was not there and she was not there. The Dursleys were on their own.

One of the officers stepped forward towards them. He was dressed in Inspector's garb, he wasn't wearing the same uniform that the grunts behind them were. "Mister Vernon and Missus Petunia Dursley, you are under arrest for the continued abuse of a minor. Please keep in mind that everything you say can and **will** be used against you in the court of law," he said to them. He didn't look too happy with them.

Petunia stammered, "B-but what about our Duddikins?"

"He will be sent to a Juvenile Detention facility for charges including damage to public property and harassment of other minors resulting in physical injury," he replied with some smugness, reveling in their misery. After all, he lived to deliver justice to those that deserved it. "After he serves his time, he will be placed with a family who will get him on the right track."

"But what about us?" Vernon spat.

"If the judge has her way, you will never be allowed to see your son or nephew ever again without police supervision." He looked to the grunts behind them, "Take them away."

Guns were prodded into their backs, little did they really know they were stun-guns, but that didn't matter as they complied and filed into the paddy-wagon whose doors were closed behind them. Only able to give a worried glance towards their son and a hate-filled glare towards their nephew.

The Inspector walked towards the cyberized child sitting on the back of an open ambulance who was currently wrapped in a blanket while being attended to by a female paramedic. The boy saw him because his attention turned to him. "Hello?" he asked with uncertainty.

The Inspector knelt down so he was at the child's level. "Hello there, my name is Inspector Jeremy Lawson, what's your name?" he asked kindly.

"H-Harry," he replied timidly. "What's going to happen to me now?" he asked.

"Well, you'll go to the hospital to get looked over and then you'll be going on a bit of a trip to another place who will be able to take care of your needs much better than your aunt and uncle could provide."

He seemed to look up at that. "You mean that I won't have to ever come back again?"

"Not unless you want to."

"Ok."

 **To be continued...?**

XxXxXxX

 **That's all I have this time around. But this time I got notes.**

 **1\. I refuse to say muggle, I mean what sane** **muggle** **mundane person would allow themselves to be pretty much called a "mugger?" Lily sure as hell wouldn't let James or anyone else call her that.**

 **2\. Now, this is the only thing that makes sense. I mean Harry returned to his body instead of going on the "Next Great Adventure" that Dumbles talked about. My other thought is that it steals an echo of the person it killed, allowing the affected one to still pass on to the afterlife but still allow the wand to keep a "record" if you will of the people killed by it. The spell leaves no mark as even stated on the wiki page and in the books, therefore it's spirit-based magic. My thought is that the only reason that he was allowed back in his body was that the Lady Death (or just Death) canceled the magical side effect on it.**

 **3\. Truck. Just think semi-truck.**

 **4\. Note legally. This references Mikoto Kusanagi in the** _ **Arise**_ **reimagining as that is one of the few glances into her origins. The operation saved her life and it was considered legal. There are many other bodies altered in the show, however, they were all on criminals, so therefore this is the only other documented** _ **LEGAL**_ **case that implanted a human brain into a cybernetic body to keep the person alive.**

 **5\. It is mentioned in the original manga that cyborgs, even Kusanagi still need nutrition for their brains which is in a specialized paste which is borderline inedible. In this case, Harry's magic kept him alive.**

 **6\. In the** _ **Halo**_ **series of games, the description of having an AI connect with the neural interface was an icy cold mercury-like liquid flowing into the brain. Not painful, but just unsettling and slightly uncomfortable.**

 **7\. That is Noble Six's service number from** _ **Halo: Reach**_ **, because why not? It's my fic.**

 **8\. Now I theorize that the non-magical law enforcement would have been alerted by the Aurors, I mean Voldemort was thought to have killed hundreds of people along with his followers, which just doesn't go unnoticed. I mean people just disappearing and dying for no reason.**

 **9\. I was watching a CSI episode where the murderer hijacked cars with aftermarket GPS Black Boxes and caused them to crash, the name came from where the tactic had first been used: Boston.**

 **Now, I know some of you are going to get on my case about this one. "You just released a pilot and now you're releasing another a day later? Get off your ass and update [insert favorite fic here]." Well, sorry to disappoint you, this one has been mostly done for a while but was missing an ending for it. This document was started back in May of 2016 and is now getting finished, just keep that in mind.**

 **What do I want to accomplish in this? Well, I want to explore the while human question that magicals will have to answer based on the fact that Harry still has magic despite being only a brain in a jar, over simplistically of course. It'd be interesting to explore.**

 **That's all I really have for now. Let me know what you think about this one in the usual place.**

 **See you all next time in whatever I post next.**


End file.
